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TEMPLE MORMONISM

ITS EVOLUTION, RITUAL AND MEANING

Published by

A. J. MONTGOMERY

156 Fifth Avenue, New York

1931

PREFACE

There has been in recent years a noticeably dis¬
tinct shift in the emphasis which the leaders of the
Mormon Church are placing on matters within their
cult. It is apparent that just now they are stressing
the observance of the Temple Mysteries. The Pres¬
ident of the Mormon Church is quoted as stating
that he purposes, henceforth, to give more attention
to the mysteries than ever before. It is also ap¬
parent that Mormons are manifesting a greater
interest in these ordinances. This book has been
prepared, primarily, for the purpose of giving in¬
formation which is believed to be authentic concern¬
ing the Temple rites. In order to give information
as to the quality and character of the work done in
the Temple, there is presented by the Rev. Dr. W.
M. Paden a timely essay on the Evolution and
Meaning of the Ritual. The Temple ritual, how¬
ever. is herein presented as the work of a redactor.
He is not creating, but simply assembling material
which exists in considerable abundance, with proper
editorial care. There are many reasons to believe
that the ritual, as given herein, is in substantial ac¬
cordance with current Temple usages.

The Evolution of the Mormon Temples
and Their Ordinances

r [E Mormons dedicated their first Temple in
1836, at Kirtland, Ohio. The main floor was
used for puhiic services, the upper floor as a
sort of training school for prophets and mission¬
aries. The services held in this Temple were open
to all. there were no secret ordinances, the “Endow¬
ments” received were supposed to be endowments of
the Spirit. Joseph Smith had not as yet received
the ritual suggestions which were put into shape and
action in the attic of the Temple at Nauvoo.

When the prophet and his people were obliged to
forsake the Temple in Kirtland and flee from Ohio,
they trekked to Missouri, which Joseph had assured
them was the land of promise, where the great
Temple should be built in which the Lord would ap¬
pear when he came in judgment. Two different
sites for this Temple were pointed out to Joseph by
revelation and at both points ground was secured and
dedicated. But Joseph's revelations, like other “well
laid schemes o’ mice and men” vanished into thin
air. For the theocratic claims of Smith and Rigdon
soon got them into trouble with the Missourians,
and the Temple builders were obliged to flee back
into Illinois.

Here at Commerce, which was renamed “Nau¬
voo,” Smith was able to regather and organize his
followers and to enthrone himself as the vicegerent
of God. the Prophet, Seer and Revelator of the new
Dispensation. He set out forthwith to build a Tem¬
ple, in which his new Zion might entertain the Lord
and in which the Saints might receive Divine ordi¬
nances and orders. This Temple was never quite
completed and was not dedicated until nearly two
years after Joseph had been shot to death by his
enemies. But before his death, he had exploited
his revelation concerning baptism for the dead and
had so baptized a hundred or more of his more eager
disciples in the Mississippi River. He soon discon¬
tinued this practice, however, as publicly baptizing a
man over and over for a long list of his deceased
forbears was not a good publicity stunt. He, there¬
fore, had an additional revelation that baptisms for
the dead could only be performed in the sacred and
secret precincts of the Temple. When the basement
of the Nauvoo Temple was enclosed and a baptismal
font was installed, baptism for the dead was inau¬
gurated as a Temple specialty. At that time it was
the one special ordinance which must be adminis¬
tered in the Temple.

Joseph's last years were, to say the least, decidedly
hectic, and his mind, as always very “absorbent.”
Moreover, he could change his mind at the twinkling
of a new scheme of winning influence with his people
and in the community. His change and rechange
of attitudes as regards Masonry are fair exhibitions
of his opportunism.

During the -30s when the anti-Masonic crusade
was ascendant in western New York, Smith and
Rigdon did not hesitate to work attacks on "secret
combinations” into the Book of Mormon, the Pearl
of Great Price, and their new translation of the
Bible. We quote from the Pearl of Great Price:

"And Satan said unto Cain, Swear unto me
by thy throat, and if thou tell it thou shah die.
And swear thy brethren by their heads and by
the living God, that they tell it not, for if they
tell it they shall surely die. And this that thy
Father may not know it, and this day I will de¬
liver thy brother Abel into thine hands. And
Satan swore unto Cain that he would do accord¬
ing to his commands, and all these things were
done in secret. And Cain saith: Truly I am
Mahan, the Master of this great secret, that I
mav murder and get gain. Wherefore Cain was
called Master Mahan (Master Mason), and he
gloried in his wickedness.”

Pearl of Great Price, p. 12.

“Lamech having entered into a covenant with
Satan, whereby he became Master Mahan,
Master of that great secret which was adminis¬
tered unto Cain by Satan, and Irad, the son of
Enoch, having known their secret, began to re¬
veal it unto the sons of Adam. Wherefore La¬
mech, being angry, slew him, not like unto Cain,
his brother Abel, for the sake of getting gain,
but he slew him for the oath’s sake. For from
the days of Cain there was a secret combina¬
tion, and their ways were dark, and they knew
every man his brother.”

Pearl of Great Price, p. 14.

Other quotations and references having to do with
the early attitude of the Mormons towards “secret
combinations” may be found in S. C. Goodwin’s
pamphlet entitled, "Mormonism and Masonry.” Dr.
Goodwin is Past Grand Master and Grand Secre¬
tary of the Masonic Order in Utah, and his studies
on this subject are well documented and thoroughly
judicial.

Joseph’s attitude towards “secret combinations”
seems to have changed when he got into trouble with
the Missourians and certain mutinous members of
his own flock. He found that "it was not wisdom
to proclaim all his teachings and doings to the
world.” His jewels should not be cast before swine
lest they turn from the "revelations” and rend the
Revelator. Some of his followers, however, were
not bom tongue-tied; others had not been hog¬
framed in with Joseph’s will as the will of God. A
number of these apostles of free speech, who had
gathered in Missouri, were cast out of the church
including two of the witnesses to the authenticity

of the Book of Mormon, and were ordered out of
the state.

It was then that Joseph and his counsellors forgot
their opposition to “secret combinations” and sanc¬
tioned the organization of a very select secret com¬
bination, usually called the Danites, which could be
used in direct action. The lips of the members of
this society were to be hermetically sealed and their
deeds were to be deeds of darkness. Joseph and
Sidney attended a meeting of the members of this
secret*combination, blessed them and prophesied over
them declaring that “they should be the means of
bringing forth the millennial kingdom.” These Dan¬
ites were "bound together by a covenant or oath and
those who revealed the secrets of the band were to
be put to death.”

W. A. Linn, in his classic Story of the Mormons,
quotes the Danite oath from evidence given before
the Fifth Judicial Court at Richmond, Missouri, in
a trial of Joseph Smith and others for high treason
and other crimes against the state, November 12,
1838. The oath quoted by Linn is as follows:

“In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of
God. I do solemnly obligate myself ever to
regard the Prophet and the First Presidency
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints as the Supreme head of the Church on
earth and to obey them in all things, the same
as the Supreme God; that I will stand by my
brethren in danger or difficulty and will uphold
the Presidency, right or wrong; and that I will
ever conceal and never reveal the secret pur¬
pose of this Society called 'Daughters of Zion’
(later Danites). Should I ever do the same, I
hold my life as the forfeiture in a caldron of
boiiing oil.”

“John D. Lee, who was a member of the
organization, explaining their secret signs, says:
‘The sign or token of distress is made by plac¬
ing the right hand on the right side of the face
with the points of the fingers upward shoving
the hand upward until the ear is snug up be¬
tween the thumb and forefinger.’ ”

Linn, p. 192.

When the covenants and doings of the Danites
were revealed in court (and the testimonies are at
least as veridical as Joseph’s denials) Joseph denied
the allegations and denounced the Order, as was his
wont in those days when his followers were prema¬
ture in teaching the righteousness of polygamy or
indiscreet in practicing it. He called certain men
who had the secrets of the Order naughty names
and disciplined or expelled them from the church,
though not all of them. The doings of the Danites
were more easily repudiated than suppressed. More¬
over. Brigham Young found use for this band of
gun-men or knife-men during the early days of his
reign in Utah.

But as the membership of the Danite band could
not in the nature of the case be large and must be
made up of men of the baser sort, Joseph and his
counsellors, having denounced “the adder which was
to bite the heels of the enemy,” set out to identify

themselves with the Masons. For as they had in the
beginning sought to make use of the teachings and
history of the Christian church, though ready to cor¬
rupt its teachings and pervert its history, they now
coveted the secrecy, history and honorable standing
of Masonry, presuming that they could Mormonize
it, hoping to use its covenants to cover their own
teachings and purposes, and ready to renounce Ma¬
sonry as they had renounced relations with the
Christian church when not permitted to change its
teachings and break with its principles.

Heber C. Kimball, Dr. John C. Bennett and Jo¬
seph’s brother Hyrum had been Masons before they
had entered the Mormon church. They and some
others, therefore, sought and at length secured the
necessary dispensation from the Grand Lodge of Il¬
linois and, on March 13, 1842, Grand Master Jonas
paid an official visit to Nauvoo and set the Lodge
at work.

In Joseph’s diary for March 15, 1842, we read:
“In the evening I received the first Degree in Free
Masonry in the Nauvoo Lodge, assembled in my
general business office." A day later he writes: "I
was with the Masonic Lodge and rose to the sublime
Degree.” The members of the neighboring Lodge
at Quincy protested against the raising of Smith
and Rigdon to the Degree of Master Mason at
sight. The Mormons said that “the angel of the
Lord had brought Joseph the keywords of several
of the Degrees, which caused him. when he appeared
in the brotherhood, to work right ahead of the high¬
est to show them their ignorance of the greatest
truths and benefits of Masonry. (See Goodwin.)

Within six weeks (May 4, 1842) Joseph was con¬
sulting with his brother Hyrum, Brigham Young,
and other Mormon leaders concerning the celestial-
izing of Masonry. Certain non-Mormon Lodges,
getting wind of the doings at Nauvoo, again pro¬
tested. After some investigation the Mormon Lodge
was warned but left on probation. Joseph and his
counsellors then went on with their transmogrifica¬
tion of the work set agoing by Grand Master Jonas
and at the same time gave Masonic Degrees. The
Warsaw Signal called the members of these Nauvoo
Lodges “Jack Masons.” They went so far as to
build a Masonic hall or Temple which they dedicated
in connection with their April conference April 5,
1844. It is reported that when Joseph fell into the
hands of the mob at Carthage. June 27, 1844, his
last words were: “O Lord, my God, is there no help
for the widow’s son?”

Zina Huntington Young, divorced from her first
husband, sealed for eternity to Joseph Smith and for
time to Brigham Young, speaking at a mass meeting
held in Salt Lake City November 16, 1878, said:

“I am the daughter of a master Mason; I am
the widow of the master Mason, who, when
leaping from the window of the Carthage jail,
pierced with bullets, made the Masonic sign of
distress but those signs were not heeded except
by the God of Heaven.”

L. D. S. Encyclopedia, p. 698.

After Joseph’s death Brigham Young became su-

preme master of tl^e situation. As it became cer¬
tain that the charter given to the Nauvoo Lodge
would be annulled, the Mormon Temple was hurried
to completion, the Masonic Lodge disbanded, their
hall or temple abandoned, and die energies of the
Saints were devoted to the completion of a temple
of their very own in which they could do their very
own temple work in their very own way.

This temple was so far finished by October 5,
1845, that the general conference of the church was
held in the temple auditorium, for the Mormon au¬
thorities had not at that time entirely rid themselves
of the thought that at least a part of the temple
could be used as a house for public worship and
conference. The only special temple ordinances be¬
fore that date were the baptisms for the dead, ad¬
ministered in the basement.

But the Saints had been promised other ordi¬
nances, and were eager for the revelations of “Celes¬
tial Masonry.” The attic storv of the temple was
therefore set apart and dedicated for these sacred
and secret ordinances. By the first of December,
1845, the temple attic was alive with candidates for
their “endowments” or “degrees.” Brigham turned
himself and his confidantes loose on the new ritual
or endowment service. He had now “no strings on
him"; he was the Elohim of the sacer ludos. or sa¬
cred play.

The versions or reports we have of these initia¬
tion ceremonies make it dear, first, that the doings
in this attic were raw; and, second, that the main
teachings, oaths and action of the play were much
the same as they are today.

The Nauvoo Temple was not fully dedicated until
April 30, 1846, but during the months preceding its
dedication thousands of die builders of the temple
had taken their endowments in its attic. Then
Brigham and his chosen followers began moving
West and within a year Nauvoo and its temple were
in the hands of their enemies. By July 24, 1847,
having led the vanguard of his followers as far as
Salt Lake valley and thinking that he and his people
were beyond the reach of the laws and lawlessness
of Ohio. Missouri and Illinois, the new prophet said:
“This is the place.”

During the years of exodus or “gathering” and
the early years of pioneer settlement in Utah, the
Mormons had no time or money to put into temple
building and little use for secret ordinances or “com¬
binations” save in dealing with apostates, and this
could be done by the gun-men or Danites. They
needed shelter for their families more than they
needed a temple; men who could irrigate more than
men who could wash, anoint and put them through
long services of initiation into the secrets of their
faith and pledged obedience to the priesthood. They
had little need of esoteric teachings during these
years of isolation. Brigham was king, and could
and did speak out freely. He ceased having rev¬
elations to be added to the Doctrine and Covenants
and gave out orders to be obeyed. Nor was he
over-eager to give the secret ordinances a local habi¬
tation and palmary attention.

It is probable that a few of the elect were put
through an endowment ritual, with its signs, grips,
covenants and penalties. A Mormon historian says l
that Addison Pratt was the first of those so favored
and that his “endowments” were given him on En- '
sign Peak May 27, 1849. In the recently published
Centennial History of the Mormon Church, written
by B. H. Roberts and endorsed by the church, we
are told that certain endowments were given under
the direction of Heber C. Kimball in the old Council \
House of Salt Lake City. 1

“The old Council House was the first perma¬
nent public building erected in Salt Lake City.

It was designed as a general Council House for
the church but was also used bv the provisional
state of Deseret as a state house. During the
early days of Utah the territorial legislature met
there. It was also used for sacred purposes.
Under instructions from President Young,
Heber C. Kimball, on the 7th of July, 1852,
resumed the administration of endowment
ordinances to the Saints in it, which privilege
had been suspended since the expulsion from
Nauvoo. The Council House stood on the
southwest comer of South Temple and Main
Street, the site now occupied by the Deseret
News Building.”

History, Vol. 4, p. 13.

It is also possible that Father Morley and a few
others peddled the rites of Nauvoc- in some of the
marginal settlements of Utah, being careful in their
choice of confidantes. But it was nearly ten years
after the cessation of temple work at Nauvoo that
the Old Endowment House of Salt Lake City was
dedicated and put into commission (July 5, 1855).

It should be noted that the endowments given in
the Nauvoo attic, while they contained the seed of
later endowments and of the endowments of today,
were introductory and incomplete. As Brigham
Young said in one of his early discourses:

“Those elders who helped to build it (the
temple at Nauvoo) received a portion of their
first endowments—some of the first or intro¬
ductory ordinances. * * • The preparatory
ordinances there administered were but a faint
similitude of the ordinances of the house of the
Lord in their fullness. * * * Be assured, breth¬
ren. there are but a few. very few, of the elders
of Israel who know the meaning of the word
‘endowment’ ”

See Journal of Discourses, Vol. II, pp. 32
and 33.

It is evident that the endowments given in the Old
Endowment House of Salt I-ake City were, save
baptism for the dead, for the living. The candi¬
dates were ordained and took covenants for them¬
selves and were married for eternity for themselves,
and not for their deceased kinsfolk. The Temple
ordinances had to do with the power of and obedi¬
ence to the priesthood, solemn promises to pray for
the discomfiture of their enemies, and the sanction

and solemnization of plural and other marriages for
time and eternity.

Versions and* reports of the services held in the
Salt Lake Endowment House during earlv days in¬
dicate that they were very like those held in the
attic of the temple at Nauvoo. Brigham Young
took the pan of Elohim, Heber Kimball that of
Jehovah. Eliza R. Snow, the more or less widowed
plural of Joseph Smith, took the part of Eve, and
W. W. Phelps played the Devil. The instructions
given and oaths taken were evidently very realistic.
There was no reticence about the privileges and
duties of plural marriage. As for the penalties of
apostasy or deadly sin, the covenanters had reason
to know that they could only be saved from final
perdition by submitting to blood atonement, i.e., by
having their throats cut from ear to ear. And what¬
ever change may since have been made in the oath
of vengeance, there is no doubt but that during the
’56s and ’57s—years in which the Mormons were
in rebellion against the federal government—this
oath or prayer was given and accepted at its face
value.

During the ’60s, Brigham was still monarch of all
he surveyed, in spite of grasshoppers, Indians,
apostates, federal judges and United States Com¬
missioners. Men who had assassinated apostates or
who had participated in the massacre at Mountain
Meadows were protected, pluralists were honored,
and prayers of vengeance were encouraged in the
Endowment House.

By the end of the ’60s, a detachment of the U. S.
Army had established Camp Douglas, the Union
Pacific railroad had entered Utah, the Emma mine
was being exploited, and the Godbeites had been
thrown out of the Mormon church for insisting on
their right to run their own business. It became
more safe for outsiders to settle in Salt Lake City
for the endowment oaths had lost some of their
power to suppress free speech and terrorize apos¬
tates and non-Mormons. With the influx of Gentiles
during the early 70s came the establishment of
Catholic and Protestant missions, the organization
of the Liberal Party, the founding of the Salt Lake
Tribune, and more energetic endeavors of the fed¬
eral authorities to prosecute, convict and penalize
polygamists, including Brigham Young, and to bring
to justice the inspirers and perpetrators of the
Mountain Meadow massacre of 1857.

During this period of increasing publicity, work
on the Salt Lake Temple, ground for which had been
broken on February 14, 1853, lagged; and the or¬
dinances and covenants of the Endowment House
were being neglected. The little Old Endowment
House was at once too conspicuous and too incon¬
spicuous to impress either the Saints or the sinners.
As a matter of fact, there were dwellers in Zion
who had “go: their eyes open.” and the atmosphere
of the city of the Saints was disturbed by contrary
winds.

It was during this decade that Brigham and his
oathbound subjects saw the need of increasing their
number and tightening the grip and expanding the

reach of the endowment services. The Endowment
House at Salt Lake City was not a Temple, and the
Salt Lake Temple was as yet largely a dream, at
times very like a nightmare. So Brigham decided
that a read Temple of Temples must be built, if not
in Zion in one or other of the villages or towns
where there were fewer Gentiles or apostates to
throw cold water on the Temple visions.

Manti, Logan and St. George were chosen as most
immune to Gentile influence and most responsive
to orders of the priesthood.

The Temple at St. George, 350 miles southwest of
Salt Lake City’, was the first to be dedicated. The
font in the basement was consecrated to baptism for
the dead in January, 1877, but the Temple was not
opened for die administration of endowments until
the following April, when Brigham Young, his coun¬
sellors and most of the apostles were present.

This was the first of the present-day Temples of
Mormonism and the first in which other ordinances
than baptism were performed for the dead. This
is clearly stated by Orson Pratt, who had perhaps
more to do with the development of the endowment
ritual than had Joseph Smith or Brigham.

“There were no rooms for washings in the
Kirtland Temple. In the Nauvoo Temple a
font was prepared for the baptism of the dead.
We have of late constructed a Temple at St.
George. Blessings have been administered in
that Temple that were totally unknown in the
two former Temples, namely, endowments for •
the dead.” J. of D., Vol. XIX, p. 19.

The form of the endowment ritual was not much
changed but its application to vicarious work was
greatly expanded. For in the Temple at St. George
and in its successors one can not only be baptized
for the dead but ordained to and endowed with the
priesthood for them, married for them, and give
them claim to their children. Thus Temple Mor¬
mons hope to give those who have not heard and
accepted the Gospel according to Joseph Smith an
opportunity to accept it in the life to come.

This vicarious work interested W r ilford Wood¬
ruff (afterwards President of the church) so very
much that it is said that he would go to St. George
and virtually live in the Temple for weeks doing
such services. In a discourse delivered in the Salt
Lake City Tabernacle September 16, 1877, he tells
the story of his Temple work for the signers of the
Declaration of Independence and fifty other eminent
men, including Columbus and John Wesley. He
then baptized McCallister, the president of the Tem¬
ple, for all the presidents of the United States save
three and said he: "When their cause is just some
one will do work for them.” J. of D., Vol. XIX,
p. 229.

The year 77 was a year of transition and orien¬
tation. old things were ending, new things beginning.
John D. Lee was executed at Mountain Meadows,
some fifty miles north of St. George on March 23rd,
—aiders and abettors of his crime having turned
state’s evidence. The 47th annual conference of the

Mormon church was opened at St. George on April
6th and the Tempie was dedicated. This according to
Brigham Young, was “the first completed Temple in
which all ordinances could be performed for the liv¬
ing and the dead since the one built by Solomon."
(/. of D., Vol. XIX. p. 220.) Brigham Young died
on August 29, and at the semi-annual conference,
held in Salt Lake October 6th, John Taylor presided
as president of the Twelve Apostles, John W. Young
and Daniel H. Wells being sustained as his coun¬
sellors.

During the ’80s the Temples at Logan and Manti
were completed and dedicated—the Temple at Logan
in 1884, the Temple at Manti in 1888. Not much
else was done during this period by way of Temple
work, save as the Temples were used as places of
hiding and secret counsel. For the United States
marshals and Federal courts, backed by the Ed¬
munds and Edmunds-Tucker laws, were making the
prosecution of polygamists something more than a
“talk-fest.” Hundreds of the leading Mormon
Apostles, Seventies, Stake-Presidents, Bishops and
Elders were convicted and fined or sent to the pen¬
itentiary. Other hundreds went “to the under¬
ground” ; President Taylor himself spent much of
his term, as mouth-piece of God, in hiding.

The Mormon leaders had matters of more impor¬
tance to deal with than marriage for eternity or bap¬
tism and other ordinances for the dead; apostles
who had urged the duty of doing work for the sal¬
vation of the “spirits in prison” now had enough
to do to keep their own bodies out of “the Pen.”
Pluralists were less eager to work their way in
Temple robes to celestial glory than to escape wear¬
ing the striped suits provided for convicted “cohabs.”

The Temples had, however, some protective val¬
ues ; marriages which were not of court record had
honorable place in the records of the Temple;
though even the demands of the Federal courts
failed to bring these records out of hiding. To
subpoena the President of a Temple "sub duce
tecum” was a futile expedient. Such a witness
would aver that there were no such records; that
he did not know where they were; or that he would
go to the penitentiary rather than violate his vows
as a Temple Mormon.

After the death of President Taylor, in 1889, Wil-
ford Woodruff was semaphored into the President’s
chair; it was not an easy chair.

The United States Government continued to
tighten the laws in re plural marriage or polygamous
cohabitation and intensified its activity towards en¬
forcing them. The pluralists were forced to face
disfranchisement and the church to face the escheat-
ment of its property. It looked as if the church
authorities must abandon their polygamous teach¬
ing and practice or see their Temples go the way of
the Temples at Kirtland and Nauvoo.

The Salt Lake Temple, on which they had been
working off and on for nearly forty years, was as
yet unfinished, and such secret endowments as could
be taken were taken in the Old Endowment House
or in one of the out-of-town Temples.

President Woodruff, after counseling with the
enemy, surrendered to the “nepushities” of the sit¬
uation and got a revelation or put forth a manifesto
in which he advised his people “to refrain from con¬
tracting marriages forbidden by the laws of the
land.” (September 24, 1890.) With the assistance _
of Judge C. C. Goodwin he then wrote his pathetic
plea to the President of the United States for am¬
nesty and the restoration of the escheated church
property.

Before this plea was granted. President Woodruff,
Joseph F. Smith, his first Counsellor, and other Mor¬
mon authorities, being brought into court, swore
that the manifesto meant the cessation of all polyg¬
amous relations as well as the prohibition of new
polygamous marriages. The prayer for amnesty
was then granted.

Then came an era of seeming submission and
peace, and the Mormon church, led by President
Woodruff, who was an ardent Temple Mormon if
not a sincere and willing renouncer of polygamy,
bestirred itself to complete its forty years’ work
on its Temple in Salt Lake City. For, while it was
quite usually supposed that plural marriage was the
most essential and important peculiarity of Mor-
monism, this was not true. The strongholds of
Mormonism were not its harems, but its Temples.
As we read in their authorized Temple Manual,
“Temple work lies at the very foundation of the
restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

In the recent commentary on the Doctrine and
Covenants we read:

"The rearing of a Temple of God in the
world is the construction of a citadel by the
followers of Prince Emanuel in the territory
claimed by Diabolus; hence his rage when the
people of God build Temples. But for the
Temples and the communion with God estab¬
lished through Temple services, the church
might have been overwhelmed.”

Commentary on Doctrine and Covenants, p. 892.

The Mormon leaders, having been defeated in
their war in defense of plural marriage, turned the
minds of their people to work in their unviolated
Temples and work towards the completion of their
great Temple in Salt Lake City. When this Temple
was dedicated, in April, 1893. thousands of the
Saints who had contributed money and labor towards
its erection were unable to get into the large upper
room of the building in which the dedicator}' services
were held. The services were, therefore, repeated,
sometimes twice daily, for three weeks, and it is said
that over 60,000 of the faithful were made glad in be¬
holding the realization of their long cherished hopes
and joined in shouting “the Hosanna” taught them
by Lorenzo Snow. Since then not even Mormons of
the common garden variety have been knowingly
admitted to the Temple, only those Saints who have
taken or desire to take their vows of obedience and
secrecy are permitted to ascend the Temple stairs
or participate in the Temple mysteries.

After the dedication of this central citadel of

Mormonism, there was a decade or more of rest
from Temple building but a renewal of activity in
Temple work. Such work had been more or less
neglected during the disturbing eighties and after
President Woodruff had ordered the pulling down
of the Old Endowment House as a sedative to the
suspicions attached to its use. The old endowments
were now put into commission on a large scale, in
the more comely and convenient working rooms of
the new Temple. As a result, thousands who had
contributed to its erection were eager to claim their
reward in endowments for exaltation. Some were
simply curious, now that the Temple works were
in commission, to see the Temple working. They
wished to assay the values of their "Dream Mine.”
Some of these gold seekers had the experience of
the Englishman who crossed the ocean to take his
endowments in the Old Endowment House. “I
came,” said he, "expecting everything. I got noth¬
ing.”

Within a few years after the completion of their
great Temple, the Mormon authorities, quietly at
first but more boldly later, began to return to their
old ways. Their misdoings had been pardoned;
Utah had, in 1896, been endowed with statehood
and could now manage its own domestic and politi¬
cal affairs.

Moses Thatcher, one of the twelve apostles, re¬
fused to accept orders from the First Presidency
and his Quorum as regards his candidacy for a seat
in the U. S. Senate. He was defeated, defrocked,
and, according to his testimony, was thereafter re¬
fused admission to the ordinances and counsels of
the Temple.

A year or so later B. H. Roberts, a Temple Mor¬
mon, who had married an additional plural since
the Maniiesto of 1890, was nominated and elected
to Congress. Thanks to the pressure put upon Con¬
gress by the American people, he was refused the
seat he sought.

The next move of the "Big Fifteen” who control
the Mormon church led to the election of one of their
number. Apostle Reed Smoot, to the U. S. Senate.
It was thought that as Apostle Smoot was not him¬
self a practicing pluralist the Senate would overlook
his apostolic responsibility for the rejuvenation of
polygamy, which was being encouraged by President
Woodruff and exemplified by two or three of Mr.
Smoot's fellow-apostles who had taken new plurals.

It emerged during the course of the Senate’s in¬
vestigation that scores if not hundreds of new plural
marriages had been sanctioned or winked at by Pres¬
ident Woodruff and his apostles after the promised
cessation of the practice. Most of these marriages
had been contracted outside of the United States, es¬
pecially in Mexico. It is now acknowledged by
President Heber J. Grant that President Woodruff
had interpreted his advice that the Saints refrain
from "marriages forbidden by the laws of the land”
as applying only to the United States, and had au¬
thorized certain of the apostles, notably Apostles
Taylor, Cowley and Brigham Young, Jr., to cele¬

brate such marriages in Mexico or elsewhere beyond
the reach of our Federal courts.

After months of investigation, the Senate’s Com¬
mittee, having assured itself of these facts, brought
in a majority report, recommending Apostle Smoot's
exclusion from the Senate. The report went over
to the next session of Congress. Meanwhile, things
had been happening in the Mormon church. Presi¬
dent Woodruff had died and Lorenzo Snow had be¬
come the mouth-piece of his people. Seeing the
storm raised by Woodruff’s interpretation of the
manifesto and the willingness of his apostolic coun¬
sellors to have it so, the new President repudiated
Woodruff’s policy and declared that he would sanc¬
tion no more plural marriages anywhere on the face
of the earth. Apostle Smoot came home from
Washington and had his fellow apostles, John W.
Taylor and M. W. Cowley, who had taken new
plurals and celebrated new plural marriages for
others since the manifesto, dropped from the Apos¬
tolic Quorum. He also saw that some other no¬
torious violators of the anti-polygamy compact were
disciplined. He then went back to Washington,
reported his work as an Apostolic Hercules, and was
given his seat in the Senate. Since then, this hard¬
working cardinal of the Mormon church has repre¬
sented both his church and his state in the national
councils and has done it well; but in order to do so
he was obliged to give polygamy, one of the favorite
inside peculiarities of Mormonism, the death stroke.

After the failure of the Mormon “die hards" to
rehabilitate the practice of plural marriage, the Mor¬
mon leaders again turned the attention of the Mor¬
mon people to their Temples and Temple building.
It was as if they had said, “Our Temples are intact,
and in them we can foster and protect the more
essential peculiarities of our organization. The world
may break into and break up our connubial corpora¬
tions but it will not and can not interfere with the
secret ordinances, oaths and counsels given and
taken in our Temples.” The Mormon authorities
had good reasons for their emphasis on Temple
work. Temple teachings and Temple counsel. For
it had become evident that political propaganda could
be more safely transmitted through instructions
given to an oathbound priesthood than through
harangues in the Tabernacle or editorials in The
Deseret News. It was also becoming more evident
that certain peculiar doctrines of the church could
be better conserved in a Temple ritual than by au¬
thorized public avowal. Moreover, the Saints of the
Dispersion desired and deserved opportunity to do
work essential to their exaltation without making
long journeys to Utah, for the Saints had been scat¬
tering rather than gathering. So three new Temples
have been built during the last ten years.

The first of these new Temples was dedicated at
Laie on the Island of Oahu, November 27. 1919
The exterior of this Temple, as of the other two
recent Temples, is of the Reformed Egyptian rather
than of the Utah or grain-elevator type. The in¬
teriors, however, are provided with the usual series
of rooms in which the endowment degrees are given

and received. The Hawaiian Temple gives the na¬
tives, of whom several thousand are Mormons, op¬
portunity to secure the exaltation of priesthood in
marked union suits and white robes. The authorized
description of this Temple tells us that "One room
contains a supply of certain articles of white clothing
which are required to be worn with the ceremonies
performed, and each person receives therefrom that
which is needed.”

The second of these new Temples was dedicated
at Cardston, Alberta. August 26. 1923. This Tem¬
ple is also for the Saints of the Dispersion, many of
whom fled to Canada during the years when the sea¬
son was open for the hunting of "cohabs” in Utah.
Others less interested in international commerce
have since joined this Canadian colony, which now
numbers about 10.000 souls. Vachel Lindsay and
Stephen Graham have given us an account of their
visit to this Temple a few weeks before it was closed
to profane eyes.

“The guide, a curious old fellow, strewed the
Temple floor with his aitches. ‘ ’Ere,’ said he to our
company, ‘ ’Ere we seals. This ’ere room is for
ordinances only. No, we don’t worship in the Tem¬
ple. It is not used for public worship. ’Ere in the
Temple we 'as the ordinances and meditations.’ Then,
wishing to interest the women of our party, he
turned our attention to the cooking and lighting and
warming and washing conveniences of the Temple.
‘You ’ave ’ere,’ said he, ‘the electric stoves to cook
the meals. You couldn’t keep running in and out
of the Temple in ver sacred garments to get meals
at resterongs, so we cooks ’ere.’ ” When Lindsay
asked him about polygamy, the old guide’s eyes
flamed as he growled: "Polygamy ’as been done
away with long ago when Utah was received into the
Union.” The party was then hurried through the
rest of the Temple and when the poet offered his
hand the old guide gave him a left-handed good-by,
which Lindsay interpreted as a gesture of profane
implication.

The third and last of these new Temples is located
in Mesa, Arizona, and was opened for endowments
and secret counsels in the Fall of 1927. Arizona
had also in other days been a hiding place for plural-
ists and more recently a refuge for pluralists and
other migrants from the Mormon colonies in Mex-
ico- . “^ s * s usua ^ when Temples are put into com¬
mission. the services have been very popular. We
quote from an interview with the Assistant Presi¬
dent of this Temple as printed in t recent issue of
the Mesa News:

“During the month of February just past
(1829) 10.215 ordinances were performed, this
number exceeding that of the Manti, St. George,
Cardston (Canadian), and Hawaiian temples
for the same month. In fact, the average for
the whole of last year for the amount of work
done was exceeded by only the Salt Lake and
Logan. Utah, temples, which are situated in
the center of the Mormon population.

"A great many from Mexico and coast points

have taken part in the work here. An excur¬
sion organized during the month of January for
members of the church in Graham county re¬
sulted in an average group of 100 here from the
county during each of the four weeks.

“A similar excursion for that county is
planned for May. A special session for the
Snowflake stake was held last November and
another will be arranged for April. Next Sat¬
urday a group of young people from Prescott
will be here to participate in the juvenile ses¬
sions held every Saturday.”

At the Semi-Annual Conference held in Salt Lake
City April 6, 1928, President Heber J. Grant made
report concerning the dedication of the Temple at
Mesa, saying:

“During the last year it has fallen to my lot
to have the blessed privilege of going into
Arizona and there dedicating one more temple
to the Most High God. I rejoice exceedingly
in the remarkable publicity that is given to us
by the newspapers of Arizona. They devoted
page after page to an account of the erection
of the temple, and in publishing a sermon upon
vicarious labor for the dead by Elder Joseph
Fielding Smith.

“I rejoice in the temple work that is now
being done. For years I felt I was too busy to
find a day or an evening to go to the temple.
A little over a year ago I made up my mind
that, by planning my affairs, by staying away
from lectures or concerts or theatres or operas,
that I could go to the temple at least once
every week and have ordinances performed in
behalf of some of my loved ones who have
passed away. By making up my mind that I
could do this, I had no difficulty whatever in
going through the temple once a week during
the entire year. Starting this year I felt that by
a little extra effort I could go twice a week, and
I have had no difficulty in doing this. Up to
the first of April I had endowments to my credit
of more than two a week for this year. ... I
pray that the Lord will inspire ail of us to
greater diligence in performing to the full ex¬
tent of our ability the duties and the labor that
devolve upon us in doing vicarious work for
our dead.”

The Christmas number of The Deseret News, is¬
sued December 20. 1930. gives conspicuous place to
an article headlined as “THE GREAT AWAKEN¬
ING IN GENEALOGY AND TEMPLE
WORK.” In the course of this article we find
President Grant’s record as a Temple Mormon for
the year 1930 and his own testimony concerning the
way he does his Temple work and what it has cost
him. We quote:

"The Priesthood has been restored; Israel is
being gathered; Zion is being built up, and
worthy saints of God are now privileged to en¬
ter the House of the Lord and receive therein

the blessings of the Priesthood, and by virtue of
the authority bestowed to officiate as saviors
upon Mount Zion.

“The labor of carrying the opportunity of
salvation to the living and to the dead has gone
steadfastly forward. It is not attended with a
great blare of trumpets, but all conversant with
the forward strides made in the prepara¬
tion of records and in the performance of ordi¬
nances for our kindred dead must be convinced
that in these activities we stand today on the
threshold of a new era, we are on the eve of a
great awakening.

“Probably the most powerful influence in
bringing about the present awakening is the
shining example of President Heber J. Grant.
No one can fail to understand his teachings;
no one can plead lack of time for this sacred
work in face of the record he had made.

"From January 1, 1930, to November 24,
1930, President Grant and family have per¬
formed the following:

“Baptisms, 287 males, 626 females, total 913;
endowments, 338 males, 648 females, total 986;
couples sealed, 764; children sealed to parents,
1,767; grand total, 4,430.

"In word and action he has effectively shown
that vicarious service is a labor devolving upon
every individual in the Church. From the presi¬
dent down no members are exempted from this
responsibility and this blessed privilege, no mat¬
ter what rank or position they may hold. As
individuals we are born with a heritage to per¬
form this work, as officers we bear our personal
duty and in addition the responsibility of set¬
ting a worthy example of leadership.

“At a genealogical convention held in Pres¬
ton. Idaho, President Grant uttered this in¬
spiring message:

" ‘I am deeply interested in genealogical work.
I had the pleasure on Friday night of going
through the temple with a company of twenty-
two relatives and friends. On an average, from
twelve to more than twenty of us representing
the Grant family go through the temple once a
week. I have one person going through the
temple all the time at my expense. I have in
my employ a sister who devotes all her time to
the preparation of genealogical records. Last
year I expended in the neighborhood of $200.00
per month during the entire year for genea¬
logical research work pertaining to the families
to which I belong in direct descent and through
marriage.’ ”

As one by one the Mormon temples are com¬
pleted, we can almost hear President Grant an¬

nounce and join in his favorite dedication hymn
(Hymn No. 139) :

“Ho, ho, for the temple's completed.

"The Lord hath a place for his head;

"The Priesthood in power now lightens
"The way of the living and dead!

"See, see ’mid the world’s gaudy splendor,
“Confusion and folly and sword,

"The ‘Mormons,’ the diligent ‘Mormons,’

"Have rear’d up this house to the Lord.

“Seeking the wisdom of Joseph
"Whose blood stains the honor of state,

"And tithing and sacrifice daily,

“Teach Saints the true way to be great.

"Mark, mark (for the Gentiles are fearful)
"The work of the Lord has begun;

"Already, this monument finished,

"Is counted one miracle done."

The Temple in Salt Lake City is called "The
Great Temple” by Brighamites or Utah Mormons,
but, according to very specific revelations fathered
by Joseph the Prophet, the Great Central Temple
is to be built at Independence, Missouri. We give
the revelation as accepted by all Latter-day Saints
and printed in Section 57 of the Book of Doctrine
and Covenants:

“Hearken, O ye Elders of my church, saith
the Lord your God, who have assembled your¬
selves together, according to my commandment,
in the land of Missouri, which is the land which
I have approved and consecrated for the gath¬
ering of the Saints. Wherefore this is the land
of promise, and the place for the City of Zion
and thus saith the Lord your God if you will
receive wisdom, here is wisdom. Behold the
place which is now called Independence is the
center place and a spot for the Temple is lying
westward upon a lot which is not far from the
court house.”

Doctrine and Covenants, T7, 1-3

The Brighamites or Utah Mormons do not at
present seem eager to gather in Missouri, their land
of promise, or by building the Temple as ordered by
their Prophet to make of Independence the New
Jerusalem.

The Josephites or Reorganized Church of Latter-
day Saints are more consistent and persistent in
their wish to fulfill Joseph’s prophecy and obey his
commandments. For they have recently transferred
their headquarters from Lamoni, Iowa, to Inde¬
pendence, and have been re-emphasizing the teach¬
ings of Joseph regarding the gathering of the Saints.

The trouble with the two major sects of the
Saints,—the Brighamites. who number 500.000. and
the Josephites. who number about 100.000.—is that
a minor sect of Mormons,—the Hedrickites, number¬
ing perhaps 1.500.—have possession of the Temple
lot and have broken ground for the long-promised
Temple. As neither the Josephites nor the Hedrick¬
ites accept the secret ordinances and oaths required

10

oi Temple Mormons by the Brig'namites and as these
two sects seem to*have the inside track in Missouri,
the Brighamites will not build their next citadel of
secrecy and priestcraft at Independence.

We know of no better statement of the attitude
of the Utah Mormons towards Missouri as the “land
of promise’’ and Independence, Mo., as the final
headquarters of the Mormon millennium than that
made by Apostle A. W. Ivins at a recent semi-annual
conference. We give it as reported in the Salt Lake
Tribune October 6, 1929:

. “The Latter-day Saints are now fulfilling the
prophecy of Isaiah that the Lord’s house shall
be established in the top of the mountain and
the time has not yet come to build a temple in
Jackson county, Missouri, although the latter
will be the eventual gathering place of the
saints, declared A. W. Ivins, first counsellor in
the first presidency of the L. D. S. church, in
addressing the morning session of the 100th
semi-annual conference Sunday in the taber¬
nacle.

"President Ivins said that agents of the
Church of Christ, a cult whose members are
known as the ‘Hedrickites,’ had visited him in
his office, soliciting the aid of the L. D. S.
church in the building of a temple at Indepen¬
dence, Mo. ‘You will see,’ the speaker told the
assemblage, ‘that in spite of our good will to¬
ward the Church of Christ a coalition in such
an undertaking is impossible, and, although a
building may be erected, it will not be the house
of God.’

ASKS WHAT WOULD THESE PEOPLE
DO WITH TEMPLE
"The question was asked by President Ivins,
‘What would these people do with a temple?
They do not believe in work for the dead and
these are the most important ordinances per¬
formed in the temple. We will not build a
temple there until the Lord speaks through the
servants of His church.’

“Isaiah said, President Ivins explained, that
the mountain of the Lord’s house will be estab¬
lished in the top of the mountain and all the
world will flow unto it. He pointed out that
‘the mountain of the Lord's house’ means the
headquarters of the true church of God.

“ ‘If this revelation,’ the speaker said, ‘is not
being fulfilled by the Latter-day Saints, it will
never be fulfilled.’

"President Ivins showed how the second part
of Isaiah's prophecy is coming to pass by point¬
ing out that thousands of visitors each year are
coming to the bureau of information on the
temple grounds in Salt Lake, seeking informa¬
tion on the Latter-day Saints and their church.”

It is likely that as years go by Mormonism, its
mysteries having become an open secret, will cease
to be a mystery religion and its Temples become
houses of prayer, their doors wide open to all who
seek the light or worship God in Spirit and in truth.

11

The Temple Ritual

FOREWORD

The Temple ritual as it is here given, while true
to the spirit, action and phrasing of the Endowment
Service, is of course a condensation as the service
is at least three hours long. The Redactor has sim¬
ply taken the various endeavors which have been
made to put the ritual or portions of it on paper
and sought to cipher out the greatest common di¬
visor of these reports. Some of the reporters have
seen rather than heard; some have been more inter¬
ested in the words of the ritual; others in its action;
and still others have felt their way through the ser¬
vice. Those who have given fullest account of the
action and wording of the service do not always
agree as regards the dramatis personae and the
points at which they appear. But the reporters who
have been through the Temple oftenest are in clos¬
est agreement as regards the content of the ritual.
Moreover, those who have been through the Tem¬
ple more recently agree, in the main, with those
whose knowledge of the ritual goes back to the old
Endowment House. As the Redactor is not and
never has been a member of the Masonic or other
Fraternity, his acquaintance with forms of initiation
has been derived from Mormons and ex-Mormon
sources.

(Sgd.) REDACTOR.

The Mormon Temple Endowment
Ceremonies

PREPARATORY WORK

The first step towards taking the endowment is to
go to the Bishop of the Ward to which the candidate
belongs. If the candidate pays a full tithing a “rec¬
ommend” is given him at once. He then takes it
to the President of the Stake, who countersigns it.

The candidate then procures his or her temple
clothing. For a man this consists of the special un¬
der garment, a shirt and a pair of white pants, a
robe and a girdle, a cloth cap and a pair of cloth
moccasins and a green silk apron, upon which is
embroidered nine fig leaves. For a woman the sa¬
cred under garment, a white skirt and blouse, the
robe and girdle, a white cloth, cap or hood, a part
of which may be used as a veil, the cloth moccasins
and the fig leaf apron.

THE ANNEX

Armed with the “recommend” and endowment
clothing, the candidate goes to the Temple and enters
by the Annex, the door of which is nearly always
open. Here he finds a small room which has the
appearance of an office. In the center of this room
is a table on which is some suggestive cash—the con¬
tribution of those who have gone before him. At
this table he presents his "recommend.” which is
closely examined for future identification, as the
“recommend” is good for six months, and makes his
donation to the cash. The very’ poor, we are told,
are not expected to contribute. They can, however,
be made to feel very uncomfortable.

RECORDER’S OFFICE, CHAPEL AND
SUBWAY

Having presented his credentials and paid his fee
or honorarium, he goes to the recorder's desk, where
there are three or four recorders. To one of these
he gives his genealogy, which consists of the place
where he was bom, the names of his parents, etc.
If he is taking endowment for the dead he gives
his data concerning them. The data for sealing or
marriage are given to another recorder.

THE CHAPEL AND ORDAINING OF
ELDERS

He then proceeds to the chapel, which is located
in the Annex, where he sits quietly until the others
have settled their genealogy, etc. When all are
ready a hymn is sung, there is a prayer, a short ad¬
dress, and another hymn.

Then the males who are taking endowments for
the dead retire to an alcove behind curtains, where
they are ordained elders on behalf of the dead, as
no one can take these endowments excepting those
holding the Melchizedek Priesthood. One of the

Temple workers officiates in this ordination, laying
his hands upon the candidate and saying:

“Brother—In the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ and by the authority of the holy Mel¬
chizedek Priesthood I ordain you an elder of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day

Saints for and in behalf of —-. w ho is

dead.”

The candidate is then allowed to pass through a
door on the left to a subway connecting with the
main building, where he is instructed to remove his
shoes, as “the place whereon he stands is holy
ground.” Having done this, he is permitted to go
up some steps into the Temple, the same order being
observed by the women.

Entering the Temple, he finds himself in a long
corridor which passes from north to south through
the basement or lower floor of the Temple proper.
The Creation Room and the Garden of Eden are
on the left side of this corridor, the Washing Rooms
and Baptismal Font are on the right or west side.

THE WASHING ROOMS

The baths and dressing rooms for the men are lo¬
cated along the northwest side of this half of the
Temple. Similar rooms for the women are on the
southwest side. Intervening and entirely separating
these rooms is the great Baptismal Font. Each of
these Washing Rooms contains its quota of bath
tubs, which are well supplied with hot and cold
water.

The candidate, being directed to these washing
and dressing rooms and having divested himself of
all his clothing, awaits his time in the bath with his
special inner garments over his shoulder. A Temple
worker goes with him into the bath to officiate in
these Temple lustrations. As the candidate is
washed, the officiant hurries through the lustration
ritual.

THE LUSTRATION
"Brother, having authority, I wash you that
you may be clean from the blood and sins of
this generation. I wash your head that your
brain may work clearly and be quick of dis¬
cernment; your eyes that you may see dearly
and discern the things of God; vour ears that
they may hear the word of the Lord; your
mouth and lips that they speak no guile; your
arms that they may be strong to wield the
sword in defence of truth and virtue; your
breast and vitais that their functions may be
strengthened; your loins and reins that you may
be fruitful in the propagating of a goodly seed;

14

your legs and fee: that you may run and not be
weary, walk and not faint.’’

THE ANOINTING

After being dried with a towel—not always fresh
—the candidate is passed on to another attendant
and is anointed with oil. The oil is very definitely
applied to the various organs of his body. The pro¬
nouncements used in this ceremony are much the
same as those used in the lustration ritual.

THE CONSECRATION OF THE
GARMENTS

After the washing and anointing the candidate is
then taken in hand by another officiant, who, having
given him the right to put on his endowment gar¬
ments, gives him his new name, saying:

"Brother, I now give you these garments,
which are patterned after those given to our
father Adam when he was found naked in the
Garden of Eden. They are called the garments
of the holy priesthood, and will prove a shield
and protection to you till you have finished your
work in righteousness upon the earth. They are
never to be removed except for purposes of
cleanliness, and then for no longer than neces¬
sary. With these garments I give you a new
name which is never to be divulged to anyone.
It is a key word and will be required of you
at a certain pan of these proceedings this day.
The name I shall give you is -.*’

The name is then whispered in the ear, usually
one taken from the Bible or the Book of Mormon.
The candidate then puts on the garment, over the oil.

DRESSING ROOM

The candidate then retires to the dressing room,
where he puts on a shin and a pair of white pants
and white stockings. In early days a long white
shirt or smock was the only covering worn over the
endowment garment. The women wear a white
skin and blouse over “the garment.”

THE DOOR OF CHAOS OR THE

CREATION ROOM

The candidate now takes his bundle, containing
robe, sandals, cap and apron, and falls in line to
await the opening of the door to the Creation Room.
He passes through this door and, when his turn
comes, goes to a table where he is again identified
and supplied with a ticket. On this ticket, if he is
doing proxy work, is inscribed the name of the dead
person whose endowment is to be taken. He is
counted with the others by a man who stands beside
the doorway and, being identified, takes a seat, and
awaits the arrival of the rest of his class. The delay
may be tedious as the washings and anointing take
time if there are many candidates. The seats in this
room are of the adjustable kind, the same as used
in theatres and places of amusement, as are the seats
in all the other rooms.

The room in which the candidate now finds him¬
self is called "Chaos or Tne Lower Instruction

Room,” and is supposed to represent the state of ai-
fairs before the world was organized. It is totally
devoid of ornament of any kind except two hands
clasped in the grip known as “Fides” over a door¬
way, which is concealed by a curtain. After all are
seated the men on the right, the women on the left,
which is the order all the way through the initiation
service, they are again counted very carefully.

When all is quiet, a man dressed in white flannels,
representing Elohim. comes from behind the curtain
and, addressing the audience, says:

"Brethren, you have been washed and pro¬
nounced dean—that is, dean from the blood
and sins of this generation. You have been
anointed that you may become kings and priests
to our God and His Christ: not that you have
been anointed kings and priests, but that you
may become such. This will depend upon your
faithfulness.

“Sisters, you have been washed and anointed
that you may become queens and priestesses
unto your lords, that is, your husbands. You
also have had garments given you and with
those garments, a new name which you were
told never to divulge to anyone; it is, however,
a key word and will be required of you at a
certain place in going through these endow¬
ments this day.

“And here I would ask if any of you desire
to retire at this stage of the proceedings. If so,
you have now an opportunity to do so by rais¬
ing the right hand—No hands raised; very well.

“You will now hear three voices,—the voices
of Elohim, Jehovah and Michael. Elohim will
command. Now give your attention and hear
what you shall hear."

THE CREATION

Elohim retires behind the curtain. After some
minutes’ pause, the silence is broken by voices ap¬
parently at a distance.

Elohim—“Jehovah! Michael! See, there is
matter unorganized. Let us go down and form
a world like unto other worlds which we have
formed, where the spirits who are awaiting
bodies may tabernacle.”

Jehovah and Michael—“We will go down.”

Elohim remains in the Celestial World while Je¬
hovah and Michael do the work of creation. This is
now carried on in accordance with the account found
in the Book of Genesis. Jehovah and Michael say,
at the end of each day, “We will now go and report
this our labor of the first, second, third day.” and
so on. On receiving instructions concerning the
work of the next day, they invariably answer. “We
will go down.” Elohim saying, “It is well.” On the
fourth day, when Elohim gives the order to place
lights in the firmament, the word “lights” is spoken
in a loud voice, and immediately the lights in the
chandelier or electrolier are turned on. At the end

15

of the fifth day Michael and Jehovah, being well
pleased with tHfeir work, feel to say:

Michael—"Jehovah, see the earth which we
have formed and plentifully supplied with ani¬
mal and vegetable life; it looks glorious and
beautiful.”

Jehovah—"It does, Michael. We will return
and report this our labor of the fifth day.”

THE CREATION OF ADAM AND EVE
Here there is again a pause for a few minutes,
when Elohim. Jehovah and Michael enter. Michael
seats himself in a chair facing the audience, Elohim
and Jehovah standing on either side of him.

Jehovah—“See the earth which we have
formed but there is not a man to till the
ground.”

Elohim—"We will make man in our own
image.”

Elohim and Jehovah now stand in front of Mi¬
chael, make passes over him, breathe on him and
he apparently goes to sleep.

Elohim—( Turning to audience )—"This man
who is now being operated upon is Michael
who helped form the world. When he awakes
he will have forgotten everything, will have
become as a little child, and will be known as
Adam.”

Then, turning to Michael, he calls in loud
voice:

Elohim—“Adam, awake!”

Adam awakes and looks around as though
startled.

Elohim—"It is not good for man to be
alone.”

Jehovah—"It is not, Elohim, for we are not
alone.”

Elohim—"We will cause a deep sleep to fall
upon Adam and make for him a woman to be
with him.”

Sleep is again produced by the same means.

Elohim (To the men )—“The brethren will
close their eyes as if they were asleep.”

While Adam sleeps Eve enters and stands be¬
side him.

Elohim (In a loud voice) —“Adam, see the
woman we have formed for you. What will
you call her?”

Adam wakes up and, looking her over with
appreciation, answers, “Eve.”

Elohim—"Why will you call her Eve?”

Adam—"Because she is the Mother of all

living.”

Elohim—"True, Adam, she is the Mother of
all living.”

Elohim (To Jehovah) —“We will plant a gar¬
den eastward in Eden, and there we will put
the man whom we have formed ”

(Man and woman are spoken of as the man.)

Elohim (To audience )—"The brethren will
now follow Adam and the sisters will fol¬
low Eve into the room representing the Garden
of Eden.”

THE GARDEN OF EDEN

This is on the same floor and is reached by going
through the curtain covered door, through which
Eve and the gods have entered.

The walls of this room are decorated profusely,
being entirely covered with trees, flowers and pleas¬
ant plants. All sorts of birds and animals are living
together in perfect peace. The ceiling is arched and
painted to represent a sky and is studded with silver
stars. At the end of the room is an altar and behind
it an elevator on which the gods ascend and descend.
To the left of the altar, as the audience faces it, is
"the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” There is
a small shelf fastened to the back of this tree, on
which is placed the forbidden fruit. This may be
an apple, or it may be strawberries or other fruit of
the season, or it may be a bunch of raisins.

All being seated, Elohim and Jehovah lay down
the laws and suggest the possible joys of the garden.

Elohim (To Adam )—“Adam see this garden
which we have planted for you. Of all the
trees of the garden thou mayst freely eat, but
of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good
and evil thou shah not eat of it, for in the day
that thou eatest of it thou shah surely die.
Now be fruitful and multiply; be happy and
enjoy yourselves. We go away, but we will
return and give you further instructions."

Elohim and Jehovah now ascend by the ele¬
vator, which is painted to represent clouds. As
they disappear

Adam (To the class) —“Now, brethren, let
your minds be calm and be not surprised at any¬
thing you may see or hear. We shall be visited
soon.”

(Enter Lucifer)

Then from the doorway by which we entered, the
one with the curtain, a man enters who proceeds up
the central aisle with arms akimbo and who surveys
the place with expectant interest. He is usually
dressed in a suit of black, wears a silk hat, carries
a cane, and has on a sort of Masonic apron, some¬
times decorated with crossed crow-quills and some¬
times with pillars surmounted by balls. This is
Lucifer.

Lucifer—“Adam, you have a nice new world
here: it is patterned after the world where we
used to live.”

Adam—“I know nothing of any other
world.”

Lucifer—“Oh. I see, you haven’t had your
eyes opened yet.”

He then goes to the tree and pretends to pluck
some of the fruit, which he offers to Adam.

16

Lucifer—"Here, Adam, take some of the
fruit of that tree.” (Pointing). “It will make
you wise.”

Adam—”*1 shall not partake.”

Lucifer—‘‘Oh, vou won’t! Well, we shall
see!”

(As Adam turns away Lucifer pretends to
discover Eve and makes his appeal to her.)

Lucifer—“Here, Eve, is some of the fruit of
that tree; it will make you wise.”

Eve—‘‘Who are you?”

Lucifer—“Your brother.”

Eve—“You my brother, and come to tempt
me to disobey Father!”

Lucifer—“Oh, I said nothing about Father.”

(Then shaking the fruit which he holds in
his hand.)

Lucifer—“Here, take some of this fruit; it
will open your eyes; it will make you wise.”

Eve—“But our Father said in the day we ate
thereof we should surely die.”

Lucifer—“Ye shall not surely die but ye shall
be as the gods; ye shall know good from evil,
virtue from vice, happiness from misery.”

Eve—“Is there no other way?”

Lucifer—“There is no other way.”

Eve—“Then I will partake.”

(She then takes some of the fruit and begins
eating it.)

Lucifer—“That’s right. Now go and get
Adam to have some.”

Eve (To Adam) —“Adam, here is some of
the fruit of that tree; (pointing) it is pleasant
to the taste and will make you wise.”

Adam—“I shall not partake. Don’t you
know our Father commanded us not to touch
the fruit of that tree?”

Eve—“Do you intend to obey all Father's
commands ?”

Adam—“Yes, all of them.”

Eve—“Well, you know our Father command¬
ed us to be fruitful and multiply and replenish
the earth. Now I have partaken of the forbid¬
den fruit and shall be cast out, while you will
remain a lone man in the Garden.”

Adam—“Yes, I see how it is. I will partake
that man may be.”

Lucifer (Nodding approval) —“Yes, that is
right.”

Eve (To Lucifer) —“I know thee now. Thou
an Lucifer who wast cast out of our Father’s
presence for his rebellion.”

Lucifer—“Oh, I see you are beginning to get
your eyes open already.”

Adam (To Lucifer) —“What apron is that
you’re wearing?”

Lucifer—“That is an emblem of my power
and priesthood.”

Adam—“Priesthood ?”

Lucifer—“Aye, priesthood.”

Heavy footsteps are heard and Elohim and
Jehovah step off the elevator.

Elohim — "Adam!” (Louder) “Adam!”
(Louder still) “Adam, where art thou?”

(Adam, who had concealed himself, comes
out of his hiding place very much ashamed.)

Adam—“I heard thy voice as I was walking
in the garden and I was afraid because I knew
that I was naked, and I hid myself.”

Elohim—“Who told thee that thou was:
naked? Hast thou eaten of the fruit where¬
of I commanded thee thou shouldst not eat?”

Adam—“The woman that thou gavest to be
with me, she gave me of the fruit and I did
eat.”

Elohim—“Eve, what hast thou done?"

Eve—“The serpent beguiled me and I did
eat.”

Elohim (To Lucifer) —“Luciier, what have
you been doing here?”

Lucifer—“Oh, the same as we have been do¬
ing in other worlds—I gave them some of the
fruit to open their eyes.”

Elohim—“For this that thou hast done, thou
art cursed above all cattle. Upon thy belly shalt
thou go and dust shall be thy meat all the days
of thy life on the earth.”

Lucifer (Defiantly) —“And I will take of the
treasures of that earth, silver and gold, and buy
up armies and navies, popes and princes, and
I will reign with blood and terror.”

Elohim—“Begone.”

Lucifer, retreating through the door by which he
entered, halts in the doorway, shakes his fist, stamps
his heel and, with a look of defiance retires.

Adam (Turning to the audience) —“In your
bundles brethren and sisters, you will each find
an apron, you will now put it on.”

(They do so)

Elohim (To Eve) —"Because thou hast
hearkened unto the voice of the Tempter and
hast eaten of the fruit whereof I commanded
thee thou shouldst not eat, I will greatly multi¬
ply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow
shalt thou bring forth children. Nevertheless
thou mayst be saved in child-bearing; thy seed
shall bruise the serpent’s head but he shall
bruise thy heel.”

Elohim (To Adam) —“Because thou has:
hearkened unto the voice of thy wiie and hast
eaten of the fruit of the tree, cursed is the
ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat
of it all the days of thy life. In the sweat of
thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return
unto the ground irom whence thou was: taken;
for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return.”

Elohim (To Jehovah) —"Let Adam be cast

out of the garden and cherubim with a flaming
sword be placed to guard the way of the tree
of life."

Jehovah—"Let cherubim and a flaming sword
be placed to guard the way of the tree of life.”

A sword is waved through the curtain. Eve, who
has been standing on the left side of the elevator,
looks up at the sword and crosses over to Adam
and places herself on his left hand.

Elohim—"Adam, we will provide for you a
Savior and send you messengers to instruct you
how you may return to our presence.”

Having laid down the law of obedience sealed by
oath and made this promise, Elohim and Jehovah
now ascend on the elevator and Adam turns to the
audience.

Adam—"Brethren and Sisters, I would here
ask if any of you have forgotten your new
name that you hold up the right hand.”

The robes, girdles, caps and sandals are then
taken from the bundles by way of preparation for
the first degree.

FIRST TOKEN OF AARONIC
PRIESTHOOD

Adam—“You will now arise, push back the
seats, place the robe on the right shoulder, put
on your caps and moccasins, and receive the
first token of the Aaronic priesthood. And you
will not forget that the utmost secrecy is to be
observed with respect to these proceedings.
They are not to be even spoken of to each
other.”

The left arm is here placed at the square, palm
to the front, the right hand and arm raised to the
neck, holding the palm downwards and thumb under
the right ear.

Adam—"We, and each of us, covenant and
promise that we will not reveal any of the se¬
crets of this, the first token of the Aaronic
priesthood, with its accompanying name, sign or
penalty. Should we do so, we agree that our
throats be cut from ear to ear and our tongues
torn out by their roots.”

Adam—"All bow your Leads and say Yes.”

As the last words are spoken the right hand is
drawn swiftly across the throat and the hands
dropped from the square to the sides.

The Name is the new name given with the gar¬
ments.

The Grip —Hands clasped, pressing the knuckle
of the index finger with the thumb.

Sign —In executing the sign of the penalty, the
right hand, palm down, is drawn sharply across the
throat, then dropped from the square to the side.

Adam—“The brethren will now follow Adam
and the sisters will follow Eve into the room
representing the Lone and Desolate World.”

THE LONE AND DESOLATE WORLD
Going out of the Garden Room we go up a long
flight of stairs from the south end of the corridor
to the Lone and Desolate World, which has walls
painted as m the Garden of Eden, save that peace
has evidently fled. The vegetation appears to have
run wild, and the birds and beasts are fighting.
There is an altar at the end of the room behind
which stand Adam and Eve. Eve is on the side
of the room facing the women.

Adam—When Adam was cast out of the
Garden of Eden, he built an altar and called
on the Lord, saying:

“O Lord, hear the words of my mouth!

"O Lord, hear the words of my mouth!

“O Lord, hear the words of my mouth!”

As Adam speaks these words he raises his hands
high above his head, then drops them to the square,
and then to his side. The words used are: "Pale,
Hale, Hale.” In the pure Adamic language these
words are said to mean, “O Lord, hear the words
of my mouth.” Adam, when asked why he gives
this cry of distress replies that he does not know,
save that he has been so instructed and is in need of
help.

(Reenter Lucifer )

Lucifer—“I hear you. What is it you want?”

Adam—“Who are you?”

Lucifer—"The god of this world.”

Adam—“Who made you the god of this
world ?”

Lucifer—"I made myself. What is it that
you want?”

Adam—“I was calling on Father.”

Lucifer—"Oh, I see, you want religion. I’ll
have some preachers along presently.”

(Enter Preacher)

Preacher—“You have a very fine congrega¬
tion here.”

Lucifer—“Oh, are you a Preacher?"

Preacher—"Yes.”

Lucifer—"Ever been to college and studied
the dead languages?”

Preacher—"Why, certainly; no one can
preach the gospel acceptably unless he has been
to college and studied the dead languages.”

Lucifer—“Well, if you’ll preach your gospel
to this congregation and convert them, mind
you. I’ll give you—let me see—four thousand
a year.”

Preacher—“That is very little, but I’ll do the
best I can.”

Preacher (To Adam )—“Good morning, sir.’’

Adam—“Good morning.”

Preacher—“I understand you are looking for
religion ?”

Adam—“I was calling upon Father.”

18

Preacher (Producing a hymn-book)—"We’ll
sing two verses of the grand old hymn.

“Hail Father, Son and Holy Ghost,

One Lord, in persons three;

To Thee we make our joyful boast,

Our songs we raise to Thee.

“Fountain of every joy and grace,

Our God, we Thee adore;

Beyond the bounds of time and space
Thou dwellest evermore.”

The preacher leads in singing the hymn, Lucifer
keeping time with his feet and viewing the audience
with smug complacency. After singing the hymn
and making his appeal to the audience, he turns to
Adam to test his faith.

Preacher (To Adam) —“Do you believe in
that great Spirit, without body, parts or pas¬
sions, who sits on the top of a topless throne,
‘beyond the bounds of time and space’, whose
center is everywhere and circumference no¬
where; who fills immensity with His presence
and yet is so small He can dwell in your heart.
Do you believe this?”

Adam—“No. I don’t believe a word of it."

Preacher—“Then I am very sorry for you.
But perhaps you believe in hell—that great and
bottomless pit which is full of fire and brim¬
stone, into which the wicked are cast and where •
they are ever burning and yet never bum.”

Adam—“No, I do not, and I am sorry for
you.”

Lucifer—“We are very, very sorry for you.
What is it you want?”

Adam—“I want nothing. I am awaiting
messengers from Father.”

Voices of the gods are now heard talking in an¬
other room.

Elohim (To Jehovah )—“Jehovah, the man
Adam seems to be true and faithful. Let us
send down to him Peter, James and John.”

Jehovah—“That is good. They shall go
down.”

(Enter Peter, James and John)

Peter, James and John now descend a flight of
stairs at the rear of the room and Lucifer advances
to meet them.

Peter—“Hello, what’s going on here?”

Lucifer—“We are making religion.”

Peter—“Indeed! What are you making it
out of?”

Lucifer—"Newspapers, novels, notions of
men and women sugared over with Scripture.”

Peter—“And how does it take with this con¬
gregation ?”

Luciier—“Oh, pretty well with all except this
man Adam; he doesn’t believe anything."

Peter (To Adam) —"Good morning, sir.
How do you like the preaching of this gentle¬
man?”

Adam—“Not at all. He tells of a God with¬
out a body, and a hell without a bottom into
which the wicked are cast and where they are
forever burning and yet never consumed. I
cannot believe it.”

Peter—“We do not blame you. W'e will visit
you again shortly.”

Peter, James and John now ascend by the stair¬
way.

Peter is now heard above addressing Elohim.

Peter (To Elohim) —“We have been down
to the man Adam. Lucifer is there with a
preacher who is trying to teach him all manner
of false doctrine; yet amid it all he still re¬
mains true and faithful.”

Elohim (Above) —“Go down to the man
Adam in your proper characters. Give him the
second token of the Aaronic Priesthood, in¬
struct him to place the robe on the left shoulder
and come back and report.”

(Enter Peter, Janies and John by the stairway)

Peter (To Adam) —“I am Peter.”

James (To Adam) —“I am James.”

John (To Adam) —“I am John.”

Preacher—"Are you the Apostles of our
Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ?”

Peter—“We are.”

Preacher (Pointing to Lucifer) —“Why, he
said we should have no more Apostles and if
any should come along professing to be such
I was to ask them to cut off a leg or an arm
and put it on again, just to show they had come
with power.”

Peter—“He did that to deceive you. A
wicked and an adulterous generation seeketh
after a sign. We do not satisfy people’s idle
curiosity. Do you know who that man is?”

Preacher—“Why, certainly! He’s a great
gentleman and is at the head of all the religious
denominations of the day.”

Peter—“I can fully believe that. Why, that’s
Lucifer!”

Preacher—“What! the DevilT”

Peter—“Yes. I believe that is one of his
names. I would advise you to have a settlement
with him and get out of his employ.”

Preacher—“But if I get out of his employ,
what’s to become of me?”

Peter—“'Why, we will teach you the everlast¬
ing gospel in connection with the rest of the
sons of Adam.”

Preacher—“Well, that’s very good.”

Preacher (going to Lucifer and tapping him
on the shoulder) —“I say, sir, is it not time we
had a settlement?”

Lucifer—“Oh, I’ll keep my word. I offered

you lour thousand a year to convert this people,
and by what I can see, they have nearly con¬
verted you* Get out of my kingdom. I don't
want such men in it.”

Peter (To Adam )—“Have you vour to¬
kens ?”

Lucifer—“Have you got money?”

Peter—“Enough for our wants.”

Lucifer—"You can get anything in this world
for money.”

Peter (To Adam )—“Do you sell your tokens
for money? You have them, I believe.”

Adam—"I have them, but I value them too
highly to part with them for money.”

Lucifer ( Turning to Peter )—“I thought I
knew you.”

Peter—“Begone."

Lucifer—"By whose authority?”

Peter ( Left arm to the square )—“In the
name of Jesus Christ, my Master.”

(Lucifer departs through a side door by
which the preacher has already disappeared.
Peter now takes Adam by the right hand and
asks:)

Peter—“What is that?”

Adam—“The first token of the Aaronic
Priesthood.”

Peter—“Has it a name?”

Adam—“It has.”

Peter—“Will you give it to me?”

Adam—“I can not, for it is connected with
my new name, but this is the sign.”

(Left arm elevated to the square)

Adam (To audience) —“Brethren and Sis¬
ters, these are true messengers from Father.
Give heed to their instructions and they will
lead you in the ways of life and salvation."

Peter—“We will now go and report.”

(They do so)

Elohim—“Peter, James and John, go down
again in your own proper characters and reveal
to Adam the second token of the Aaronic
Priesthood and place the robe upon his left
shoulder.”

SECOND TOKEN OF THE AARONIC
PRIESTHOOD

Peter—“The brethren and sisters will now
stand, push back the seats, place the robe on
the left shoulder, and receive the Second Token
of the Aaronic Priesthood.”

“We and each of us do covenant and promise
that we will not reveal the secrets of this, the
Second Token of the Aaronic Priesthood, with
iis accompanying name, sign, grip or penalty.
Should we do so. we agree to have our breasts
cut open and our hearts and vitals torn from
our bodies and given to the birds of the air and
the beasts of the field.”

“All bow your heads and say yes.”

The Sign is made by placing the left arm on the
square at the level of the shoulder, placing the right
hand across the chest with the thumb extended and
then drawing it rapidly from left to right and drop¬
ping it to the side.

The Name is the given name of the candidate.

The Crip is given by clasping the hand and press¬
ing the thumb in the hollow between the first and
second knuckles of the hand.

The voice of Peter is now heard as he returns to
report to the gods.

Peter—“We have been down to the man
Adam, have given him the Second Token of the
Aaronic Priesthood and instructed him to place
the robe on the left shoulder.”

Elohim—“ ’Tis well. Go down again, in¬
struct him to place the robe on the right shoul¬
der, give him the First Token of the Melchize-
dek Priesthood, and come back and report.”

Peter, James and John—“We will go down.”

Peter—“The brethren will now follow Adam
and the sisters follow’ Eve into the room repre¬
senting the Terrestrial Kingdom.”

TERRESTRIAL KINGDOM

This room is sometimes called the “Blue Room”
and sometimes the “Upper Lecture Room.” From
.it the candidate enters through the veil into Celestial
Glory.

FIRST TOKEN MELCHIZEDEK
PRIESTHOOD

Peter—“The brethren and Sisters will now-
stand, push back the seats, place the robe on the
right shoulder, and receive the First Token of
the Melchizedek Priesthood.”

The Sign is made by bringing both hands to the
square, palms to the front.

Peter—“We and each of us do covenant and
promise that we will not reveal any of the se¬
crets of this, the First Token of the Melchize¬
dek Priesthood, with its accompanying name,
sign or penalty. Should we do so, we agree
that our bodies be cut asunder in the midst and
all our bowels gush out.”

Peter—“All bow your heads and say yes.”

As the last words are spoken the hands are
dropped till the thumbs are in the centre of the
stomach and drawn swiftly across the stomach to the
hips, and then dropped to the sides.

The Name of this token is the Son, meaning the
Son of God. Members of the Melchizedek Priest¬
hood belong to the Order of the Son of God.

The Grip is given by placing the thumb on back
of hand and the tip of forefinger in the centre of
palm, representing the piercing of the hand by a
nail. It is called “The Sign of the Nail.”

Peter, James and John—“We will now go
and report.”

(They again ascend by the stairway, and their
voices are.heard again.)

Peter—“Elohim, we have been down to the
man Adam, have given him the First Token of
the Melchizedek Priesthood and have instructed
him to place the robe on the right shoulder.”

Elohim—"It is well. Go down again, in¬
struct him to place the robe on the left shoul¬
der, give him the Second Token of the Melchiz¬
edek Priesthood, and teach him the true order
of prayer.”

Peter, James and John—“We will go down.”

SECOND TOKEN MELCHIZEDEK

PRIESTHOOD

Peter—"The brethren and sisters will now
stand, push back the seats, place the robe upon
the left shoulder, and receive the Second Token
of the Melchizedek Priesthood.”

There is no penalty attached to this, but we are
told the obligation of secrecy is the same, for God
will not be mocked.

The Sign is made by elevating both arms above
the head to represent the crucifixion. The word
“Pale” is spoken, the arms dropped to the square,
“Hale,” and then to the sides, “Hale”—thus—"Pale,
Hale, Hale.”

The Grip is made by grasping the hand, the fore¬
finger on centre of wrist and little fingers locked.
There is a tradition that when our Saviour was cru¬
cified, the nail drew out between the fingers with
the weight of His body, and the executioner then,
drove the nail through the wrist for better security.
This Grip is called the "Patriarchal Grip” or “Sure
Sign of the Nail.”

The following obligations are now taken with the
right arm at the square:

LAW OF SACRIFICE

“You and each of you do covenant and prom¬
ise that you will sacrifice your time, talents and
all you may now or hereafter become possessed
of to the upbuilding of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

“All bow your heads and say yes.”

LAW OF CHASTITY FOR MEN

“You and each of you do covenant and prom¬
ise that you will not have sexual intercourse
with any of the opposite sex except your lawful
wiie or wives who are given you by the holy
priesthood.”

“All. bow your heads and say yes.”

LAW FOR WOMEN

“You and each of you do covenant and prom¬
ise that you will not have sexual intercourse
with any of the opposite sex save your lawful
husband, given you by the holy priesthood."

“All bow your heads and say yes.”

LAW OF VENGEANCE

“You and each of you do solemnly promise
and vow that you will pray, and never cease to

pray, and never cease to importune high heaven
to avenge the blood of the prophets on this na¬
tion. and that you will teach this to your chil¬
dren and your children’s children unto the third
and fourth generation."

“All bow your heads and say yes.”

PRAYER CIRCLE

The true order of prayer is now taught in what is
known as the Prayer Circle. As many candidates as
can conveniently do so now surround the altar, when
all the Tokens of the Aaronic and Melchizedek
Priesthood are gone over.

Peter—"The Sisters will now veil their
faces.”

The veil attached to the hood is here lowered.

The men who are kneeling now take each other
by the right hand in the Patriarchal Grip and place
the elbow of the left arm on the shoulder of the
person next to them, arm at the square, palm of
the hand to the front.

An elder kneels at the altar, with right arm at
the square and the left extended, the hand cupped
as though about to receive a blessing. He then of¬
fers a prayer, which is repeated by all who compose
the circle. A prayer of this type is used in the
Prayer Circles of the priesthood.

THE ENDOWMENT LECTURE

Elohim, or one in authority, now mounts the plat¬
form in front of the veil and gives a lecture, review¬
ing the whole Endowment service. This lecture is
often very long and tedious. The speaker goes over
the Temple work of the day and explains its signs
and meaning. The marks in the veil are also ex¬
plained. with their significance and uses. In speak¬
ing of the creation, he is sure to say that Adam was
not made out of the dust of the earth but begotten
the same as other men; that the creation of Adam
was done by a figure just to show you how man
was made; and that when he came here he brought
one of his wives with him. On days when there are
few who are going through the Temple for the first
time, this lecture before the veil is very much short¬
ened, only the essential pan which refers to the
creation of Adam being recited or read.

THE PLATFORM BEFORE THE VEIL

The platform from which this lecture is delivered
is reached by three steps on either side of an altar.
Up these steps the candidates must ascend for final
testing before admission to the inner sanctuary or
Celestial Glory. The veil itself covers a large arch¬
way at the east end of the Lecture Room. The
archway is supported by five pillars and covered
with a curtain heavy with gold lace trimmings. Be¬
tween these pillars candidates give their grips, signs
and tokens before being admitted to the holy of
holies. Benches are placed on this platform for the
accommodation of those whose names have been
called until there is room for them to do their work
through one of the veiled openings.

Peter—“We will now uncover the veil.”

21

This is done by two workers—one on each side
pulling upon lines which take the covering of the
veils to one side or the other. We now have the veil
explained to us. We are told that it represents the
veil of the temple. The marks are the same as those
on the garments—the compass on the left and the
square on the right side, the navel mark correspond¬
ing to that part of the body, and the knee mark,
which is supposed to mean that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow. There are four other
marks, called “Marks of Convenience.” One, a hole
through which the Lord puts forth his hand to test
the knowledge of the candidate; two others through
which the hands of the Lord and the candidate are
thrust to be placed upon each other’s backs; and
one through which the candidate whispers in the
Lord’s ear. All now being in readiness, a man’s
name is called, who goes up on the platform with his
woman or women following him. There, as has
been said, they seat themselves till their turn comes.
A man will sometimes take three or four, or even
more, women with him, whom he has never seen
before, but who must have a man to take them
through and be lord to them.

The candidate is now taken to one of the openings
between the pillars by one of the Temple workers,
who gives three raps with a mallet on the pillar. The
Lord parts the veil slightly and asks what is wanted.

Temple Worker—"The man Adam having
been true and faithful in all things now desires
to converse with the Lord through the veil.”

Lord—"See that his garments are properly
marked, present him at the veil, and his re¬
quest shall be granted.”

Attendants or Temple workers prompt the candi¬
date in his answers and grips. The endowee is then
taken up to the veil. The Lord puts forth his hand
and, taking that of the candidate, asks:

Lord—"What is this?”

Endowee—“The first token of the Aaronic
priesthood.”

Lord—"Has it a name?”

Endowee—“It has.”

Lord—"Will you give it to me?”

Endowee—“I will, through the veil.” (The
Temple name.)

Lord—"What is that?”

Endowee—"The second token of the Aaronic
priesthood.”

Lord—“Has it a name?"

Endowee—“It has.”

Lord—"Will you give it to me?”

Endowee—“I will, through the veil.” (The
given name.)

Lord—"What is that?”

Endowee—"The firs: token of the Melchize-
dek Priesthood.”

Lord—“Has it a name?”

Endowee—"It has.”

Lord—"Will you give it to me?”

Endowee—“I will, through the veil—the Son”
—(meaning the Son of God).

Lord—“What is that?”

Endowee—"The second token of the Melchiz-
edek Priesthood—The Patriarchal Grip or
Sure Sign of the Nail.”

Lord—"Has it a name?”

Endowee—“It has.”

Lord—“Will you give it to me?”

Endowee—"I can not for I have not yet re¬
ceived it. For this purpose I have come to con¬
verse with the Lord behind the veil.”

Lord—"You shall receive it upon the five
points of fellowship through the veil. These
are, foot to foot, knee to knee, breast to breast,
hand to back, and mouth to ear.”

The five points of fellowship are given by putting
the inside of the right foot to the inside of the
Lord's, the inside of your knee to his, laying vour
breast close to his, your left hands on each otfier’s
backs, and each one putting his mouth to the other's
ear, in which position the Lord whispers:

Lord—"This is the sign of the token:

“Health to the navel, marrow in the bones,
strength in the loins and sinews, and power in
the priesthood be upon me and my posterity
through all generations of time and throughout
all eternity.”

Lord (Without changing position)—"What
is that?”

Endowee (Answering as before)—"The sec¬
ond token of the Melchizedek Priesthood.”

Whereupon the candidate, taught by the Lord, re¬
peats the formula which has been whispered in his
ear.

Lord—"That is correct.”

The Endowee is then taken to the opening by the
attendant, who gives three more raps with the mal¬
let.

Lord—"What is wanted?”

Attendant—“Adam, haring conversed with
the Lord through the veil, now desires to enter
his presence.”

Lord—“Admit him.”

As he says this he extends his hand and welcomes
the candidate into the Glory Room. He is now the
lord over his women and the three raps being again
sounded, the man having assumed the part and place
of the Lord, asks the female attendant what is
wanted.

Attendant—“Eve haring been true and faith¬
ful in all things desires to converse with the
Lord through the veil.”

Lord or man—“See that her garments are
properly marked, present her at the veil and her
request shall be granted.”

22

And so on over the same ground again, save that
it is Eye in place "bf Adam who must be tested for
admission.

THE CELESTIAL ROOM
This is the "Glory Room” of the Temple. One
of the Mormon thrill masters calls it "an ecstasy of
delicate and luxurious color.” The endowees fill
their eyes with its splendor, preen their feathers be¬
fore its great mirrors, or rest from the excitement
of their hours of initiation on its richly furnished
chairs and lounges. Some, however, who are to be
married for time or eternity, or both, are busy with
the recorder of credentials. If they are to be mar¬
ried for time as well as eternity, the licenses required
by the state must be presented. The licenses for
eternity must have the okeh of the Temple presi¬
dent. Others who are to be sealed or married for
the dead also present their credentials.

Then the candidates for connubial felicity enter
one or other of two small, but richly furnished,
rooms, which open from the Glory Room. Each of
these rooms is provided with an altar. In one of
these the sealings or marriages are vicarious and in
the other the marriages are more personal. Between
these two small apartments is a small circular room
"used only for the highest of the Temple ordi¬
nances.”

While the candidates and those who have personal
or vicarious work to attend to remain, members of
the class who have been in the Glory Room before
and who have no sealing work to detain them put
their super-imposed robes, girdles and aprons into
their bundles, hasten downstairs to the dressing-
room and get into their everyday dothes. Mean¬
while, the Temple workers have gone to the Temple
refectory to get something to eat. „

THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY
The altars in the sealing rooms have on them white
velvet cushions, and on each side are kneeling stools.
The ceremony is usually performed by the president
or acting president of the Temple. The candidates
kneel, one on each side of the altar, and clasp their
hands in the patriarchal grip. If there are many
candidates waiting, the officiant may make the ser¬
vice very brief. Sometimes saying little more than
"Do you M — do you N — Amen. Kiss your

wife.” A more formal ceremony is more usual and
more in accord with the spirit of the endowment
service.

“Do you Brother .. take Sister

--— by the right hand to receive her

unto yourself to be your lawful wedded wife
and you to be her lawful wedded husband, for
time and all eternity, with a covenant and prom¬
ise on your part that you will fulfil! all the rites,
laws and ordinances pertaining to this holy
matrimony in the new and everlasting covenant,
doing this in the presence of God and angels
and these witnesses, of your own free will and
choice.”

Answer: "Yes, I do.”

"Do you Sister . take Brother.

__by the right hand and give your¬
self to him to be his lawful and wedded wife,
for time and all eternity, with a covenant and
promise on your pan that you will fulfill all the
laws, rites and ordinances pertaining to this
holy matrimony in the new and everlasting
covenant—this in the presence of God, angels
and these witnesses.”

Answer: "Yes, I do.”

"In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and
in authority of the holy priesthood, I pro¬
nounce you legally and lawfully husband and
wife for time and all eternity; and I seal upon
you the blessings of the holy resurrection, with
power to come forth in the morning of the first
resurrection, clothed upon with glory, immortal¬
ity and eternal lives; and I seal upon you the
blessings of thrones and dominions and princi¬
palities and powers and exaltations, together
with the blessings of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
And I say unto you, be fruitful and multiply
and replenish the earth, that you may have
joy and rejoicing in your posterity in the day
of’ the Lord Jesus. All these blessings, to¬
gether with all the other blesrings pertaining
to the new and everlasting covenant, I seal upon
your heads through your faithfulness unto the
end, by the authority of the holy priesthood,
in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Ghost.

Amen.”

23

* Notes on Endowment Ritual

BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD.' V ■*’'

T should be noted that baptism for the dead, ,
though required of those who take their vicarious, .
endowments, is not a part of the endowment'
service. It is administered on a different day and
this special type of vicarious or proxy work can
be done by members of the church who have not
taken their endowments and by boys and girls who
are not yet old enough to be fully initiated into the
mysteries or the ordinances of the Temple.

As we read in the Temple Manual, “Males over
21 or females over 18 are not permitted to witness
or take any part in the Temple ordinances except
baptism -for the dead, unless they have received
their own endowments.” In other words, members
of the church can be baptized for their dead with¬
out being endowed for them, though if they wish
to be endowed with the priesthood, etc., for them
they must first be baptized for them.

Boys and girls of high school age can be bap¬
tized for their deceased relatives and are encouraged
to accept this privilege. Excursions of these juniors
are organized in various stakes or wards, and some
of the youngsters take to the work like water
spaniels. A business man of Salt Lake City reports
that he lias been baptized for as many as fifty de¬
ceased relatives in one day. The stories some of
the boys tell of their substitutionary stunts are
more extravagant and ]>cssibly somewhat apocryphal.
This introduction of high school boys and girls into
the basement or font room of the Temples awakens
their curiosity and kindles their desire to see and
swear their way through the Temple from bottom
to top. from the rooms for washing and anointing
to the celestial glory. These junior semi-initiates are
the DeMolavs of Temple Mormonism.

THE WASHING AND ANOINTING
There are exaggerated accounts of this introduc¬
tion to the real endowment service, which suggest
that this portion of the service is, if not indelicate,
rather humiliating. This criticism is largely based
on the rawness with which the rites of washing and
anointing were administered in the artic of the Tem¬
ple at Nauvoo and the old Endowment House of
Salt Lake City. That these rites have been refined
is certain. Manly men and modest women, whom
we have reason to know as Temple Mormons, would
riot submit to such handling and organ recitals by
the Temple workers who officiate in the Temple
washing rooms. Nevertheless, the old forms endure,
whatever modifications have been made in the
intimacies of speech and touch suggested by the
ritual. Such modifications are quite natural as the
normal adult resiles from taking his lustrations un¬
der official supervision and with official aid.

The favorite hymn of the Mormons: “The Spirit

of -C-6d' like a fire is.burning,” has been revised and
no longer contains the.-old-time stanza to be used
in or by way. o' preparation for Temple lustrations:

‘Twill wash and be washed and with oil be
anointed,

Withal not omitting the washing of feet,

For he that receiveth his penny appointed
Must surely be clean at the harvest of wheat.”

This stanza reminds one that the primitive Mor¬
mons, like the Dunkards, practiced “foot washing”
at certain of their services and that they were
anointed with oil when ordained to the priesthood,
and used “tokens” as vouchers of good standing in
the church. As the Temple ritual was developed,
the terminal washings and anointings were so ex¬
tended as to require “allovers,” and the "appointed
penny”—whatever that meant—now means a certifi¬
cate that the candidate has paid his tithes and such
contribution as he may choose to make towards the
support of the Temple ordinances.

THE TEMPLE GARMENTS

The inner or permanent garment was originally a
muslin or linen undersuit, without buttons, high in
the neck and long at the extremities. This endow¬
ment garment was and is Mormonized by certain
marks which are described in our version of the
endowment service.

The cut of this garment, though supposed to be
a matter of revelation, has for many years been re¬
sented by many of the Mormon women. President
Grant has, therefore, recently given these objectors
official permission to curtail this inner garment at
its various termini, though it is reported that un¬
mutilated garments are used in the Temple sen-ice.
For general use, however, the Mormon merchants
now advertise a full stock of “the garment,” either
full length or abbreviated, and in all varieties of
material, including silk and rayon.

As has been suggested in our introduction to the
endowment ritual, the immediate covering of this
garment is, for the woman, a white skirt and
blouse, and for the man a white shirt and white
trousers. Thus arrayed in white the candidates
come together at the door of the Creation Room in
their stocking feet or in white cotton moccasins. In
earlier days this meeting of the candidates was hard¬
ly a full dress affair, as the only outer garment worn
was then a white smock.

Even today the candidates do not get into full
Temple array until “their eyes are opened in the
Garden of Eden” and they “make a dive for their
bundles” in which they carry their complete Temple
outfit. They then put on their fig-leaf aprons and
Temple robes. Their robes are simply the few yards
of white material needed to cover the candidate.

Prince o: all, and holds the keys of Salvation,
under the council and direction of Him who is
without beginning of days or end of life.”
Doctrine <5r Covenants, p. 82.

back and front, when thrown over right or left
shoulder. The “robe” is gathered or shirred where
it crosses the shofllder and is held together by girdle
of the same material. Good Temple Mormon; are
buried in their Temple regalia. ■

THE TEMPLE GODS “\ V '

The Temple Gods are Elohim,. .Jehovah and
Michael; the latter is by turns an ’archangel, -a
Creator and the Adam-God of Brigham Young.

The Mormons hold on to their beliei in a plural-
ity of gods even more stubbornly than their belief
in the righteousness of plural marriage. While some
of the more progressive “Saints,” whose authority
is personal rather than official, care little for Joseph’s
pluralities, i.e., plurality of gods, plurality of wives,
and plurality of Bibles the authoritative "spokesmen
of the church are true to the faith delivered to them
as Latter-day Saints.

To them, as in the endowment ritual, Elohim rep¬
resents “the Supreme God or Council of the Gods
of the congregation of the Might}-. He is the primal
source of the power of the priesthood.” As one of
the present-day apostles declares: “Elohim is the
Hebrew plural for God. To the modern Jew it
means the plural of majesty, not number, but to
the Latter-day Saint it means both.” Elias p. 118.

In former days, Brigham Young, Heber Kimball,
or others who sat in the seats of the mighty enacted
the parts of Elohim and Jehovah, etc., but in more
recent times, owing to the fact that the President
of the church and his chief counsellors can not be
in seven widely separated temples at once, Temple
Presidents have been appointed under whose super¬
vision corps of Temple workers impersonate the
various characters who from time to time take parts
in the Temple drama. Many proxy baptisms and
sometimes other proxy ordinances are given into the
hands of good Mormons who need work, and a man
who has taken the part of St. Peter or St. John
may be seen loafing on a seat in front of the town
hall when off duty. An irreverent judge of char¬
acter, when told of President Grant’s addiction to
taking Temple endowments, says: “It must be quite
an act of self-suppression for ‘Heber J.’ to go
through this long service with some one else acting
the part of Elohim.”

MICHAEL OR ADAM

A note is pehaps needed as regards Michael who
becomes Adam. According to Apostles Whitney, a
representative spokesman of the First Presidency
and Apostolic Quorum:

"Michael was the archangelic leader of the
hosts of heaven against Lucifer and his re¬
bellious legion. Michael becomes Adam and
falls from an immortal to a mortal state that he
might become the progenitor of the human
family.” Elias 118.

In this the apostle follows the teachings of Joseph
as found in the Doctrine and Covenants:

“Michael or Adam is the Father of all, the

Brigham Young did not hesitate to say, “Adam is
the God of the human race and the only God with
/•whom we have to do.”

The church authorities do not emphasize this
doctrine today but it remains in their Temple ritual
and even in the recently revised edition of Latter-
day hymns. We quote two stanzas from this hymn
in adoration of Adam and Eve:

“Sons of Michael, He approaches,

Rise! the ancient Father greet.

Bow ye thousands low before Him
Minister before His feet.

“Mother of our generation
Glorious by Great Michael’s side
Take thy children’s adoration
Endless with thy Lord preside.”

Hymn 334.

THE GODS ARE MARRIED

At the close of the creation of the earth and man
Elohim quotes from Genesis, saying: “It is not
good for man to be alone,” whereupon Jehovah
promptly responds: “It is not, Elohim. for we are
not alone.” So they make a woman for Adam.

This teaching that each of the gods has a wife
or wives is not confined to the Temple ritual or
lectures.. At the semi-annual conference of the
Mormon Church, held in October, 192S, one of the
apostles declared:

"Joseph knew God for he had seen Him, had
conversed with Him, and received from Him
instruction. He declared God to be in human
form, an exalted, glorified man, and that was
His first great service to humanity. And how
reasonable and logical it is'.- What simple,
plain common-sense! For if God made man in
His own image, then God must be in the image
of man, and if men and women are God’s own
children, his sons and daughters, what more
reasonable than that we have a Mother as well
as a Father in heaven, in whose likeness we are
male and female.” Conf. Rep. Oct. 1928, p. 62.

This is in accord with Eliza R. Snow’s hymn to
the Eternal Father and the Eternal Mother:

"In the heavens are parents single?

No, the thought makes reasonre.

Truth is reason, eternal

Tells us we’ve a Mother there.”

Revised Hymnal No. 34.

ADAM FELL THAT MAN MIGHT BE

When Lucifer appears in the endowment drama
he persuades Adam and Eve that they must partake
of the forbidden fruit that “man may be and that
they may have joy.” They must break this speca!

26

the prophets on the powers that be other than Mor¬
mon. There is no more doubt about this than there
is about the Mormon uprising against the Federal
troops in 1856-7 or the Mormon resistance of the
federal laws against polygamy in the 70s and '80s.

Hot expressions of the spirit of this covenant may
be found in the Journal of Discourses as delivered
>n_the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Moreover, as late as
1877 Wilford Woodruff, afterwards President of the
Mormon church, was true to the oath he had taken
when in his prayer at the dedication of one of the
rooms in the St. George Temple he prayed:

“Therefore, O Lord our God, we pray that
thou wilt give thy people faith that we may
claim this blessing of thee, the Lord of Hosts;
thou wilt lay thy hand upon thy servant Brig¬
ham unto the renewal of his body, and the
healing of all his infirmities, and the lengthen¬
ing out of his days and years. Yea, O Lord,
may he live to behold the inhabitants of Zion
united and enter into the holy order of God,
and keep the celestial law, that they may be jus¬
tified before thee. May he live to behold Zion
redeemed and successfully fight thy devils, vis¬
ible and invisible, that make war upon thy
saints. May he live to behold other temples
built and dedicated unto thy name and accepted
of thee, O Lord, our God. And we pray thee,
our Father in Heaven, in the name of Jesus
Christ if it can be consistent with thy will that
thy servant Brigham may stand in the flesh to
behold the nation which now occupies the land
upon which thou, Lord, has said the Zion of
God should stand in the latter days; that na¬
tion which shed the blood of prophets and
saints, which cry unto God day and night for
vengeance; that nation which is making war
against God and his Christ; that nation whose
sins and wickedness and abominations are
ascending up before God and the heavenly
hosts, which causeth all eternity to be pained
and the heavens to weep like the falling rain:—
Yea, O Lord, that he may live to see that na¬
tion, if it will not repent,'broken in pieces like
a potter’s vessel and swept from off the face
of the earth, as with the besom of destruction,
as were the Jeredites and Nephites; that the
land of Zion may cease to groan under the
wickedness and abominations of men.”

We find the same spirit expressed by George Q.
Cannon, afterwards President Woodruff’s First
Counsellor:

“Eventful and never to be forgotten days;
when the wailings and lamentations of a whole
people rent the heavens for the loss of their be¬
loved prophet and patriarch, and when the
prayers of thousands ascended to the throne
of Jehovah for vengeance on their guilty
murderers.

“On the 27th of June. 1844. Joseph and
Hyrum Smith fell victims to the hellish and

unappeasable bloodthirstiness of their enemies.
. . . The blood of Joseph and Hyrum Smith,
the blood of innocence is yet unatoned and
unavenged! It cries from the earth to the
heavens for vengeance; and their spirits, with
the spirits of others who have been slain for the
word of God and for the testimony which they
held, are crying with a loud voice, ‘How long.
O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and
avenge our blood on them that dwell on the
earth.’ Will their prayers be unheeded and
unanswered? . . . The blood of the innocent
will yet be atoned for. It is a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God; for
He says that ‘He will avenge the blood of His
servants and will render vengeance to His ad¬
versaries.' It is a fearful thing, also, for a
people or nation to be guilty of shedding the
blood of a prophet—one of the Lord's anointed.
Yet this is the crime which this nation has per¬
mitted to be done within its borders. ... But
the nation through its rulers looked on approv¬
ingly, and extended no arm to visit punishment
on the guilty parties, or to shield the innocent
and suffering brethren of the murdered ones
from the recurrence of similar scenes.”

Western Standard.

THE OATH OR PRAYER OF TODAY

(1) The spirit of this covenant is conserved and
fostered in the latest edition of Latter-day Saint
hymns, 1927. It is found in the hymn which is
sung at the great annual and semi-annual confer¬
ences. “Praise to the Man who communed with
Jehovah” (Hymn 167) and in a half dozen other
hymns of this new hymnal. Among these we find
“Up awake ye Defenders of Zion,” a hymn which
glorifies the spirit of the Mormon Rebellion of ’56
and ’57:

“Up awake ye defenders of Zion
The foe's at the door of your .homes;

Let each heart be the heart of a lion
Unyielding and proud as he roams;

Remember the wrongs of Missouri;

Forget not the fate of Xauvoo;

When the God-hating foe is -before you
Stand firm and be faithful and true.

“Tho assailed by legions infernal
The plundering wretches advance
With a host from the regions eternal
We’ll scatter their hosts at a glance.

Soon ‘the Kingdom’ will be independent
In wonder the nations will view
The despised ones in glory resplendent
Then let us be faithful and true.”

Hymn 82.

While such hymns have place in their manual
for use in public worship, need we wonder if the
old oath of vengeance retains its place in the ritual

commandment ip order to keep the more important
command to multiply and replenish the earth.

This interpretation of the entrance of sin into
the world has had much to do with Mormon readi¬
ness to make choice oi laws, even Divine laws, as
the' means to a desired end. It is found in the Book
of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price:

“And now behold if Adam had not trans¬
gressed. he would not have fallen but he would
have remained in the Garden of Eden; and all
things which were created must have remained
in tire same state in which they were after they
were created, and they must have remained for¬
ever and had no end, and they would have had
no children. Wherefore, they would have re¬
mained in a state of innocence, having no joy,
for they knew no misery; doing no good, for
they knew no sin. But behold, all things have
been done in the wisdom of Him who knoweth
all things. Adam fell that man might be, and
men are that they might have joy.”

Book of Mormon, 2nd Nephi, Chap. 1.

"And in that day Adam blessed God saying:
'Blessed be the name of God because of my
transgression. My eyes are opened, and in this
life I shall have joy and again in the flesh I
shall see God.’ And Eve, his wife, heard all
these things and was glad, saying: ‘Were it
not for our transgression we never should have
had seed, and never should have known good
and evil, and the joy of our redemption and
the eternal life which God giveth to all the
obedient.’ A.nd Adam and Eve blessed God
and made all these things known to their sons
and daughters.”

Pearl of Great Price, Moses 5, 10-12.

In the new Mormon commentary on the Doctrine
and Covenants, we read:

“Adam partook of the forbidden fruit in
order not to be separated from his wife, fully
und'erstanding the consequences. ‘Adam fell
that man might be.’ ”

Doctrine and Covenants, 205.

LUCIFER AND THE HIRELING
PREACHER

Lucifer is the Master Mason of the Pearl of
Great Price, the representative of an apostate priest¬
hood. Joseph and his counsellors later thought that
they might profit by alliance with the Masons and
went so far. as to secure certain Masonic privileges.
These they proceeded^ to abuse and so lost their
Masonic standing. They then returned to their first
attitude towards such “secret combinations” and
organized one of their own.

The attitude of the Mormon church toward the
Christian church and its ordained ministers has been
more consistent. In the very beginning Joseph had
declared that ail “the churches were corrupt and
their creeds an abomination,” and had forthwith de¬

termined to set up a church of his own. In the orig¬
inal endowment drama there were several preachers
or priests,—a Catholic, a Quaker, a Methodist, a
Baptist, and a Presbyterian,—whose heated argu¬
ments in defense of the peculiar doctrines of their
faith made sport for the white-robed Mormons. To¬
day one preacher represents all the non-Mormon
churches.

As may be seen in the ritual the statements of
Protestant belief are exaggerated and held up to
ridicule, and yet the Mormon leaders sometimes
accuse non-Mormons of irreverence if they smile
at crassness of Mormon theology and the persistence
of its credulities.

This portion of the ritual to this day relieves the
conventional solemnity of the three hours’ initiation,
it gives the neophytes or repeaters opportunity to
rest their faces. In the old version of the ritual the
fun got fast and furious as Satan encouraged the
various sectarian ministers in standing for their
supposedly pet doctrines, which were, of course,
caricatured to the limit, and in getting them “thru
ither” as they brandished their ecclesiastical shilla-
lahs. Such hilarity made it hard for the solemniz-
ers of the ritual to get the candidates or endowees
into the straight-faced relations with the oaths they
must take to get into the Melchizedek Priesthood
and to prepare them for votive prayers as they
gathered in the prayer circle. Moreover, as some of
the neophytes had been raised in the fellowship of
one or other of these caricatured churches, it was
soon noted that as some faces were rested by smiles
or laughter, others were not rested, but restive and
sometimes wrinkled with frowns. So the play has
been simplified and soberized.

The lectures on the ritual, being often impromptu
and differing in length and emphasis, inculcate such
Mormon doctrines as that God or the gods have
“body, parts and passions”; that acceptance of bap¬
tism by one who has received the authority of the
Mormon priesthood is essential to salvation; that
the proxy ordinances of the Temple may throw
open the doors of one or other degree of glory to
the dead; and that it is necessary for good Mor¬
mons to “go through the Temple” to assure them
admittance to the highest glory and give them the
privileges of Godhood and Goddesshood; and, of
course, they never omit insistence on the necessity
of silence and secrecy as regards the vows taken and
the duty of obedience to the priesthood.

THE LAW OF VENGEANCE

This law of vengeance has occasioned the Mor¬
mons almost as much trouble as Joseph’s revelation
on plural marriage. No covenant or promise in the
endowment ritual has been investigated more thor¬
oughly.

There is no doubt but that the oath or covenant,
as taken in the Temple at Nauvoo. and later in the
old endowment house of Salt Lake and the Temple
at St. George, was a covenant to pray and never
cease to pray high heaven to avenge the blood of

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used in the secret ordinances of the Mormon
Temples?

(2) Of course it may be said that even if this
oath is still in the ritual in its old form, it means
no more than the fearsome penalties the Temple
Mormons call down upon themselves in case they
violate their secret vows. These penalties which
were very real in other days may now be used by
way of emotional emphasis. But the emotions
kindled either by the hymn we have quoted or the
old oath of vengeance are neither patriotic nor
pious.

(3) It may also be said that this covenant, like
the other vows of the ritual, is taken by classes of
groups and not by individual covenanters. So taken
they may mean little more than a show of hands,
some of which are lifted mechanically as so many
semaphores as the train goes by rather than by w3y
of personal consecration or contract. For, as will
be noted in the ritual, the vows are taken en masse,
as per order of the train master, "All lift your hands
and say yes.”

(4) There is some evidence that the phrase, "on
this nation” or its equivalent is left out of the pres¬
ent-day covenant. We, however, leave the oath, as
near as may be, in its historic form. For the late
President Joseph F. Smith and other Mormon au¬
thorities have insisted that endowment obligations
have not been changed. It is worthy of notice, how¬
ever, that while President Smith and other good
Temple Mormons have sworn that the oath or law of
vengeance does not contain the words “against this
nation” they have utterly refused to give the courts
the very words of the covenant or prayer required
of those who take their endowments.

(5) The most that can be said bv way of mitigat¬
ing the treasonous character of this oath is that when
the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and mob-
bings and "drivings” were uppermost in the minds of
the Mormon people, the oath of vengeance was at
once specific and general. The Mormon church was
in those days an avowed theocracy, those not in it
were “the enemies,” and the state and federal author¬
ity was in the hands of the ungodly. The “Saints.”
therefore, did not hesitate to call on God “to make
bare his arm and break the teeth of the wicked”
nor did they hesitate to plead "their cause against
an ungodly nation.” As they did so they voiced their
appeal in the words of the Apocalypse (Rev. 6:16 ):
“How long O Lord * * dost thou not judge and
avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth.”
Whatever may be the exact wording of the oath, the
late Apostle John Henry Smith and other prom¬
inent Mormons have testified that this is the spirit
of it.

One sums up the evidence as he compares the old-
time attitude of the Mormons towards the U. S.
Government with that of today, saying: “If the oid
oath hasn’t changed its body it has changed its
treasonous spirit.”

NOTES ADDITIONAL

The Redactor has evidently not been primarily
interested in the attitudes of the Mormon church

towards “secret combinations,” such as Masonry,
etc., save as they may be evidences of Mormon
predacitv. It is worth noting, however, that accord¬
ing to the Manual the signs, grips and tokens given
in the Temple Service will be required of those who
seek exaltation in the life to come. As Brigham
Young has put it:

“It is absolutely necessary that Saints should
receive the further ordinances of the house of
God before this short existence shall come to a
close; that they may be able to pass all the sen¬
tinels leading into the Celestial Kingdom and
into the presence of God.”

In another sermon he said:

"Then go on and build temples of the Lord
that you may receive your endowments and pos¬
sess the keys of the priesthood that you may re¬
ceive every word, sign and token and be made
acquainted with the laws of the angels and the
kingdom of our Father and our God and know
how to pass from one degree to another and
enter fully into the joy of your Lord.”

After the inauguration of the Endowment services
in the Temple at St. George, Brigham said:

"We that are here are enjoying a privilege
that we have no knowledge of any other people
enjoying since the days of Adam; that is, we
have a Temple completed wherein all the
ordinances of the house of God can be bestowed
upon his people. * * * It is true that Solomon
built a temple for the purpose of giving en¬
dowments, but front what we can learn of the
history of that time they gave very few, if any,
endowments. And one of the High Priests was
murdered by wicked and corrupt men who had
already begun to apostatize because he would
not reveal those things appertaining to the
priesthood that were forbidden him to reveal
until he came to the proper place.”

(See Brigham Young’s Discourses, pp. 602-603.)

OTHER USES OF THE TEMPLES
Not only are endowments given in these Temples
but portions of the buildings are used for secret
meetings of those who have taken Temple covenants.
In the great Temple of Salt Lake City, the plan of
which we have used in the circumambulations of the
Endowment Sendee, all the initiatory endowments
are given in the two lower stories of the building.
In the story above there are "apartments suitably
furnished and decorated for the use, severally, of
the First Presidency, the Twelve Apostles, the' first
seven presidents of The Seventies, the Stake Presi¬
dent. etc.” Above these council chambers, on the top
floor oi this Temple, there is a General Assemblv
room with a seating capacity of about 2.000 persons.
Here the members of the Aaronic and Melchizedek
priesthood, all of them Temple Mormons, are gath¬
ered from time to time to receive instruction as re¬
gards the will oi the powers that be in the Mormon
church.

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